12 Camels Disqualified From Beauty Pageant in Saudi Arabia for Getting Botox

When it comes to cosmetic enhancements, there's basically no limit to what Botox can do. It can lengthen your forehead, give you a temporary facelift, and even stop you from sweating too much. But here's one purpose that's apparently a huge open secret among certain prized pet competitors in Saudi Arabia: It can make a camel much prettier.

According to The National, what distinguishes a beautiful camel from a merely OK-looking one is a "full, droopy lip" and large facial features. "They use Botox for the lips, the nose, the upper lips, the lower lips and even the jaw," Ali Al Mazrouei, the son of a top Emirati breeder and a frequent camel festival attendee, told the outlet. "It makes the head more inflated so when the camel comes it’s like, 'Oh look at how big is that head is. It has big lips, a big nose.'"

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Unfortunately, it's also a huge no-no at camel beauty pageants — which yes, do exist. The National reported that 12 camels have been disqualified from the second annual King Abdulaziz Camel Festival (basically the Coachella of camel festivals) for using Botox. Apparently, a vet was caught red-handed injecting camels with Botox and surgically reducing the size of their ears several days before the contest began. Other cheaters, according to The National, are usually a lot sneakier, altering a camel's face with Botox and collagen injections over many months so that once a buyer finds out, it's way too late. And although a cheating owner will get the disgraced camel in question banned, sometimes for years, they can just enter another (presumably more creatively altered) camel.

While our hearts go out to the disqualified camels who had literally no choice in the matter, this is a great example of a common mistake made with Botox: going overboard with putting injectables in your forehead. "It drops the eyebrows and it can sometimes drop the upper eyelid, which is called eyelid ptosis, and you never want to see that happen," Botched plastic surgeon Paul Nassif previously told Allure.

"The thing I don't like to see is that 'Botox-forehead look,'" added fellow Botched surgeon Terry Dubrow. "Even if you do Botox right, if you have a certain kind of anatomy where you have a high forehead, it can give you that very tight and bulge-y look, like an oily bowling ball. It's not a cute look." Unless you're a camel.

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Now, check out some stories about Botox that aren't related to camels:

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