“BlackBerry Botox:” Anti-Aging Solution for Vain and/or Insane CrackBerry Addicts

I try to cover everything BlackBerry in this blog, and sometimes that means stepping outside of the usual breaking news or analysis on which I typically focus. (There is an official name for this departure, and it is “Slow News Day.”)

Today, I’m examining a trend in which snake-oil salesmen doctors in the United Kingdom are treating young professionals—mostly females–with neurotoxin injections to do away with facial wrinkles, a.k.a., “crow’s feet” that the patients believe have been caused or worsened by squinting for long periods of time at their BlackBerrys, iPhones and other gadgets.

London-based cosmetics doctor and Botox injector Dr Jean-Louis Sebagh told the London Evening Standard that many women are currently seeking this new form of Botox treatment, cleverly called “BlackBerry Botox.” And Sebagh, who reportedly treats supermodel Cindy Crawford, also notes that anyone who uses a smartphone for long periods of time each day could become afflicted with BlackBerry-induced facial wrinkles.

“The natural tendency is to squint at the screen when reading messages and as a result some people develop this area of tightness/small frown lines between the brows, which is easily rectified with the light use of Botox by an experienced doctor,” Sebagh told the Evening Standard.

In other words, if you use a BlackBerry a lot and you’re worried about facial wrinkles, BlackBerry Botox could be right up your alley…at least according to the people who profit off of Botox usage. Of course, countless, non-invasive and much less dangerous solutions exist, as well. But, of course, Dr. Sebagh fails to mention any of them.

That’s where I come in. Here’s my quick, no cost, painless and regret-free solution: Just increase the default text size on your BlackBerry or iPhone, get another device with a larger display or maybe even pick up a tablet like the iPad or BlackBerry PlayBook and then increase the default text size.

I’ll even show you how to increase your smartphone’s text size, using a BlackBerry or an iPhone.

First up, BlackBerry. Find and open your BlackBerry’s Options menu, click on Display and then Screen Display. On the following screen, find the Font Size option and bump it up a few notches.

iPhone 4 users should open their Settings menu, click General, then open up the Accesibility listing and flip the Large Font button to Yes.

Voila! Less squinting. Fewer wrinkles. No needles.

I’m in the wrong profession; this blogger should’ve been a doctor.

Read more about smartphone related ailments, including the dreaded BlackBerry Thumb and the lesser-known yet just as nasty, Cellphone Elbow.

AS

Al Sacco covers Mobile and Wireless for CIO.com. Follow Al on Twitter @ASacco. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline. Email Al at ASacco@CIO.com.