A Cosmetic Surgery Solution for Migraine Headaches

After noticing that some migraine patients had a reduction in their headaches after undergoing endoscopic brow lift surgery, a plastic surgeon developed a migraine surgery technique that involves “surgical deactivation” of “trigger sites” in the muscles or nerves that produce pain. A new study that followed patients for five years after surgery found that 88 percent have less frequent or severe migraines.

The researchers followed 69 patients after they had surgery to deactivate muscle and nerve trigger points in places like the forehead, temple and nose. Each patient was tested with BOTOX® before surgery in order to confirm the trigger sites, and for most patients the surgery targeted at least two  sites.

Five years after the surgery 59 percent of patients said their headaches were significantly better and 29 percent said their migraines were completely eliminated. Other findings from the study included:

• Average migraine frequency decreased from about eleven to four per month
• Average migraine duration decreased from 34 to eight hours
• Migraine surgery led to significant improvements in quality of life, with few serious adverse effects

An additional benefit to the migraine surgery? Patients may end up with fewer wrinkles as well as fewer headaches. “For those patients, commonly the aesthetic outcome is pleasing. They just look like they’re less angry or are less serious,” said Bahman Guyuron, MD, who developed the technique.

The researchers wrote that “the findings provide strong evidence that surgical deactivation of one or more trigger sites can successfully eliminate or reduce the frequency, duration and intensity of migraine headache, and the results are enduring.”

More research is needed to refine the surgical techniques and to clarify the reasons for the effectiveness of surgical deactivation of trigger sites, and experts say migraine surgery is probably only a good idea for those who don’t respond to other treatments.