A team of reconstructive and plastic surgeons in New Orleans has been coming up with a consistently high success rate for a procedure that is being used as a surgical treatment technique for the management of migraines in specially screened and selected patients. Reportedly, more than 90% of the patients who have received this specialized form of eyelid surgery have successfully had the nerves that trigger migraines decompressed, giving them notable pain relief. The results of this study that confirm the benefits of this surgical eyelid treatment for the management of migraine pain have been published in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal online.
The innovative technique presents an alternative to the traditional approach of endoscopic eyelid surgery where the instrument works its way down from under the patient's skin, from the scalp to the eyelid. During the process, the nerves that are implicated in a migraine episode are released and deactivated to provide relief. For patients that are not suitable for this type of procedure, the researchers have found that a simple incision on the upper eyelids may achieve the same results.
Data from the research shows of that, of the 35 patients that participated, there was an over 90% positive response rate from the procedure, with about 51% of the patients claiming that their migraine headaches have been eliminated completely. Approximately 20% of the patients report significant reduction of the sentence, while 30% say that they have experienced reasonable improvement of symptoms after treatment. The patients for this study were screened based on their previous positive response to Botox or other forms of nerve block treatments that indicated their history of chronic nerve compression resulting to migraine headaches.
In the United States alone, 5% of men and17% of women suffers from chronic migraine episodes that account for almost a third of the total emergency room visits annually.