Oren Tessler, Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, is part of a team of reconstructive surgeons who report a high success rate using a method to screen and select patients for a surgical migraine treatment technique.
More than 90% of the patients who underwent this surgery to decompress the nerves that trigger migraines experienced relief and also got a bonus cosmetic eyelid surgery. The study, which confirms the benefit of surgical treatment for migraines and expands access to it, is published online ahead of print in the journal, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
The technique offers an alternative to the commonly used endoscopic approach which works down from the scalp under the skin. There are many cases that are not suitable for this approach, ranging from the patient’s anatomical issues to some surgeons’ lack of access to endoscopes or experience with them. The research team found that, in a select group of patients, incisions through the upper eyelid resulted in equally effective release and deactivation of the nerves involved in migraines.
The researchers, who also included surgeons from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, report an overall positive response rate of 90.7%. Migraine headaches were totally eliminated in 51.3% of the patients, with about a fifth of them experiencing an 80% reduction of symptoms. Nearly a third of the patients had between 50 and 80% of their symptoms resolved. Thirty-five patients participated in the study. All suffered from chronic nerve compression migraine headaches confirmed by previous positive response to Botox or nerve block treatments.