Forehead Lift cures migraines?

Nearly 30 million Americans suffer from migraines. In August, news of a surgical “cure:” in a double-blind study published in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, more than 80 percent of patients who underwent surgery in one of three “trigger sites” significantly reduced their number of headaches. More than half of reported a “complete elimination” of headaches compared with about 4 percent of the placebo group.

The surgery in question is the classic forehead lift, a cosmetic procedure to smooth furrowed brows. Could this cosmetic operation could relieve migraines and turn back the clock in one fell swoop? The possibility has migraine specialists – and sufferers - intrigued.

Because some migraines are caused when sensitive nerve branches are squeezed and irritated by muscles, deactivating those muscles through surgery could bring prolonged relief. Using BOTOX for migraines, for those same muscles — when paralyzed with Botox injections — eases headaches in some patients for roughly three months. Forehead lifts might result in a longer-lasting, perhaps permanent, alleviation of pain.

(Note that conclusive research on Botox as a treatment for chronic headaches is not yet ironclad. Allergan, Botox’s maker, is pursuing the approval of Botox as a treatment for chronic migraines.)

Many headache specialists emphasize that migraine surgery isn’t applicable to most sufferers. Suitable candidates are those who endure frequent migraines and have failed more tried-and-true methods of controlling their headaches

Also, note that the classic forehead lift for cosmetic effect differs significantly from the surgery for migraine sufferers. The latter removes frown muscles more thoroughly and entails padding nerves with fatty tissue.

Migraine surgery varies according to where the patient’s trigger sites are: forehead, temples or back of the head. It’s unclear whether or not the migraine sufferers whose pain had disappeared a year post-operation will remain headache-free for life.

Could forehead lift surgery also ease migraines permanently? All of this is still in the testing phase. We’ll keep you posted.