Migraine Sufferers Benefit from Plastic Surgery

By Rachel Stockton (rachels@foodconsumer.org)

Mark Howell, a pastor in a large non-denominational church in Houston, TX, has a history of debilitating migraines. Before the pain sets in, he typically can see only one half of everything in front of him; a shroud of blackness covers the other half. Once the pain sets in completely, he remains virtually immobile from blinding pain and periods of intense nausea and vomiting.

The New York Times Health Guide claims that migraines are the result of abnormal brain activity that can be triggered by stress, environment, certain foods, or some other unknown x-factor. The pain interferes with relationships and quality of life, in general. Most migraine sufferers know that if they feel the approach of a headache coming on, radical changes in their personal schedules will likely have to be made.

However, migraine headaches may soon have to confront a formidable, if highly unlikely, foe: plastic surgery. Dr. Bahman Guyron, MD of Case Western Reserve University has successfully treated some migraine patients with a modified version of a forehead lift.

The procedure is fairly straight forward; nerves in the migraine trigger sites are snipped, thereby eliminating migraine pain. An astounding 57% of Guyron's patients during a clinical trial completely recovered from migraine pain. The details of study appear in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that the "vanity" industry and the nation's disdain for growing old have provided relief for migraine sufferers. For the last several years, some headache centers, such as the New York Headache Institute, have been giving Botox injections to some of their patients at $750-$1000 a pop, every three months. Botox, a nerve poison, blunts or completely blocks certain chemical nerve signals that can cause migraine pain.

Although it may be too soon to tell if the forehead lift will become a prevalent form of migraine treatment, Dr. Guyron's success is nothing to sneeze at.