What is 'Barbie Botox', and why are health experts against this beauty trend?

Far from trivial, it involves injecting botulinum toxin into the trapezius muscle to create the effect of a longer neck and sculpted shoulders. Photo: AFP

The cult of the perfect body still rides high, and the success of the Barbie film – which sought to expose many such cliches and constraints – may actually have amplified it.

After the craze for "Baby Botox", an alternative considered milder and more natural than the full works, here comes "Barbie Botox", a technique that's far from new, but which has gained fresh interest with the release of the feature film dedicated to the cult doll.