Pretty sure it's not the takeaway that Greta Gerwig intended for her summer feminist blockbuster but it seems some Barbie fans, rather than basking in feelings of confidence in their own skin, are instead trying to have flawless long Barbie necks by injecting Botox there in a new trendy and viral, yet medically worrisome procedure.

The term “Barbie Botox” appears to have been coined by TikTok influencers like Isabelle Lux earlier this summer. As MedPage Today explains, the procedure is actually called trap Botox and “involves injecting about 40 units of onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) into each trapezius muscle. Roughly 3 weeks later, the full effects result in atrophied trapezius muscles, giving the illusion of a longer ‘Barbie-like' neck.”

Videos tagged #BarbieBotox are proliferating throughout social media, with mostly positive posts yet few warnings about the dangers of the procedure. Women are posting before and after pics showing how much smaller their trapezius muscle appears after merely a few weeks.

A New York dermatologist, Dr. Raman Madan, however, stressed to MedPage Today that Barbie Botox is not meant for everyone. As he explained, “You don't want to do it on every patient that comes in asking for it, because there can be downsides if you pick someone who has naturally weakened trapezius muscle. I think that's the biggest takeaway.”

He further noted that, “It's not a completely risk-free procedure,” as people who already have small trapezius muscles, or who receive the injection in the wrong place and/or receive too many units of Botox could experience excessive weakness. Madan also doesn't recommend Botox for anyone under 21 years of age as an elective procedure.

The way the effect generally takes hold, he explains, is that since Botox stops muscles, “you're not moving the muscle as much … and if you don't use it, you lose it and it starts to shrink a little bit. That's how [Barbie Botox] gives the appearance of basically having a longer neck — by making the muscle look smaller.”

Botox, though, is of course a temporary procedure, usually only lasting for around 6 months. As Madan explains, Botox is recognized by the body as a toxin, and clears it out of your system over time.

Maybe in the TikTok beauty influencers cut of the record-shattering Barbie movie, instead of telling that old lady on the bench that she's beautiful, Barbie should advise her, “You'd look much better with an atrophied trapezius muscle” and offer her some Barbie Botox. Or maybe we should just learn that necks come in all different shapes and sizes, even in Barbieland.