“Years ago, the manufacturers of Collagen completely isolated their herd of cows - they have a closed herd. So it’s safe and the risk of contracting mad-cow disease from Collagen injections is zero.”

But Dr. Kinney, is not so sure about the zero figure.

“I wouldn’t say it’s impossible. I would say it’s unlikely. And if I was getting collagen injections, frankly, I’d be more worried about flying in airplanes,” he says.

Even the FDA agrees. There are no reported cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also called BSE or mad-cow disease in the United States.

And according to an FDA Spokesperson, “For the past several years, our regulations state that the bovine used in Collagen and other injectibles must come from BSE-free countries.”

OK. So there are no infected cows in the US. But collagen injections are rapidly increasing in popularity all over the world “because of the desire for larger lips,” says Dr. Kinney. “It’s been a cosmetic trend outside of plastic surgery for the last several years and has spread across the globe.”

Collagen’s popularity can be attributed to several of its advantages: it’s reliable, it works well, and the instances of allergic reactions are quite low. But collagen injections have a major drawback: they don’t last. The collage is re-absorbed and the results vanish.

I have some patients who have to have treatments every six weeks! My longest enjoys beautiful results for four-and-a-half-to-five months. Most people can’t afford to come back that often,” says Dr. Kinney. “Frankly, I’m in search of something better.”

So what if someone received a bovine-based injection in another country? Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, someone got a collagen injection from a cow infected with mad-cow disease. What would happen?

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