New research suggests women find it harder to orgasm after having botulinum treatment – but not everyone is convinced this means facial expressions are key to feeling pleasure. Most people dread the idea of anyone seeing their sex face, but it may be saving their sex life.

According to research by Cardiff University, women experience less satisfying orgasms and find it harder to orgasm after having botulinum toxin treatment (Botox). Because the muscles often targeted by botulinum are associated with orgasm and sexual excitement, the researchers wanted to test whether restricting them affected the ability to feel sexual pleasure. They followed a small sample of women – 24 before and after botox, compared with 12 women who had had non-muscle restricting work done (such as skin peels). They found a significant drop in sexual satisfaction for the 13 women whose frown lines had been altered and a “near significant” drop for women who had had injections for crow’s feet and frown lines.

Other academics argue that facial expressions are a social tool, used to influence others around us, rather than an indicator of how we actually feel.

The neuroscientist Dr Lisa Feldman Barrett, the author of How Emotions Are Made, describes the effect of mimicking the feeling that you want to feel: “When you’re not having a day filled with disaster, that nudge might be enough to shift you from having a neutral day to a slightly pleasant day ... but the findings are inconsistent and slight.”

(writer is correspondent of The Guardian, by Poppy Noor )