Not Just for Wrinkles: Botox Injections Promote Improved Bladder Control

Can't go to the movies or be with friends because you're always looking for a bathroom? Botox injections may be the answer for urinary incontinence.

Updated August 12, 2025

By Alexander Berger, MD, MPH, Urogynecologist – Virtua Female Pelvic Medicine

Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA) injections can eliminate wrinkles on your face, decrease chronic migraines, reduce muscle spasms, and even diminish excessive sweating. Increasingly, Botox is being used to treat urinary incontinence and overactive bladder, especially when other therapies haven't worked.

Always Rushing to Go to the Bathroom?

Your bladder acts like a storage tank. Once it's full, the brain sends a message to the bladder that it's time to urinate.

When everything works smoothly, you usually have time to get to the bathroom before needing to urinate. If you have urge incontinence, you have the intense need to urinate right away and may sometimes leak urine if you don't make it to the bathroom on time.

Urge incontinence is often the result of a condition called overactive bladder, when you may:

Feel a sudden, difficult-to-control urge to urinate
Experience an involuntary loss of urine
Urinate frequently
Wake up two or more times a night to urinate

Overactive bladder may be caused by weak pelvic muscles, increasing age, obesity, or an estrogen deficiency after menopause, as well as some medications, alcohol, and caffeine. It also may be the result of malfunctioning nerves due to a stroke, diabetes, Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis.

How Botox Works for Urinary Incontinence

The detrusor muscle lines the wall of your bladder. The muscle relaxes to allow your bladder to fill with urine and contracts when you urinate. If you have an overactive bladder, the detrusor spasms.

During a five-minute procedure, we use a cystoscope to inject Botox into the muscle. This blocks the nerve signals to the muscle and controls its contractions, promoting better bladder control.

Women begin to experience relief of their symptoms in seven to 10 days. The benefits of the injection last six to nine months with minimal side effects.

Botox injections are covered by insurance. However, some plans may require you to try other therapies first, such as pelvic floor exercises and medication.

Botox injections were previously limited to the operating room and surgical centers. Now that we can conveniently offer them in the office, it’s a game-changer. As we only use local anesthesia, women can drive themselves, get the injection, and then go back to their normal activities.

Virtua Female Pelvic Medicine Specialists Get You Back to the Life You Enjoy

A pelvic floor disorder is not something you just need to live with. Find a Virtua female pelvic medicine specialist near you or call 888-847-8823 to make an appointment.