Plastic Surgery Relieves Migraines!

[Cort]

Alot of ME/CFS patients apparently have migraine like headaches. Now a new study indicates that plastic surgery works VERY VERY WELL in some migraine suffers. Apparently the idea is that the surgery effects the trigger points in the forehead, temples and back of head - where 'the headache settles and begins"

They seem to have stumbled onto this after realizing that Botox was reducing migraine headaches in some patients. Botox manufacturer is now trying to get approval to treat migraine. (this procedure only works for those types of patients).

New York Times Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/fashion/03SKIN.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=migraine%20plastic&st=cse

It makes me think of myofascial trigger points and things like that.

Plast Reconstr Surg. 2009 Aug;124(2):469-70.
A placebo-controlled surgical trial of the treatment of migraine headaches.

BACKGROUND: Many of the nearly 30 million Americans suffering with migraine headaches are not helped by standard therapies, a proportion of which can harbor undesirable side effects. The present study demonstrates the efficacy of independent surgical deactivation of three common migraine headache trigger sites through a double-blind, sham surgery, controlled clinical trial.

METHODS: Seventy-five patients with moderate to severe migraine headache who met International Classification of Headache Disorders II criteria were studied. Trigger sites were identified (frontal, temporal, and occipital), and patients were randomly assigned to receive either actual or sham surgery in their predominant trigger site.

RESULTS: Of the total group of 75 patients, 15 of 26 in the sham surgery group (57.7 percent) and 41 of 49 in the actual surgery group (83.7 percent) experienced at least 50 percent reduction in migraine headache (p < 0.05). Furthermore, 28 of 49 patients in the actual surgery group (57.1 percent) reported complete elimination of migraine headache, compared with only one of 26 patients in the sham surgery group (3.8 percent) (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: This study confirms that surgical deactivation of peripheral migraine headache trigger sites is an effective alternative treatment for patients who suffer from frequent moderate to severe migraine headaches that are difficult to manage with standard protocols.