Dermatologist Alastair Carruthers, Who Pioneered Botox for Cosmetic Use, Dead at 79

Mar. 15, 2025

Dr. Alastair Carruthers.Photo:American Society for Dermatologic Surgery

American Society for Dermatologic Surgery

Dr. Alastair Carruthers, a physician who is largely credited with making Botox a household name, has died. He was 79.

Alastair was born on June 4, 1945, in Bebington, Cheshire, U.K. After graduating from the University of Oxford’s Brasenose College in 1968, he was trained in Internal Medicine in Vancouver and Liverpool before specializing in dermatology at St. Thomas’s Hospital and St. John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Skin in London. In 1977, he joined the Faculty of Dermatology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

He later became the first Canadian president of the ASDS. During his tenure, he established the First Annual ASDS Gala, the ASDS Stegman Circle fundraising initiative and the Society’s advocacy arm, ASDSA.

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Throughout his career, Alastair published over 100 articles and authored several textbooks. He also won numerous awards and honors, including the ASDS Samuel J. Stegman, MD, Award for Outstanding Service in 2010, the Philip Frost and Eugene van Scott Leadership Award in 2012, the ASDS Leadership in Innovation Lectureship in 2014 and the ASDS President’s Award in 2015.

With his wife, Alastair led the discovery of the cosmetic use of botulinum toxin A. An ophthalmologist, Jean used a dilute solution of botulinum toxin to treat a patient’s uncontrollable blinking. It was then that the couple discovered the toxin’s wrinkle-relaxing effects.

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Alastair retired in 2015 and returned to academics. He studied European and Middle Eastern history at the University of British Columbia. In his personal life, he was passionate about sports and fine wine.

source: people.com