A recent case study from the Mayo clinic is reporting some interesting findings about Botox injections and its uses outside of cosmetic surgery applications. The results give hope to sufferers of Low CSF Pressure Headaches, a condition caused when a leak in the fluid around the brain creates pressure on the spinal nerves and produces painful, sometimes debilitating headaches.
Researchers presented their findings at a March 13 meeting of the American Academy of Neurology that took place in Hawaii. The patient involved in the case study was a 25-year sufferer of Low CSF Pressure Headaches. The condition had created a negative impact in this woman’s life. She often found her routine disrupted as a result of the intense pain these headaches can cause.
Doctors Paul Mathew, M.D. and Michael Cutrer, M.D. don’t practice cosmetic surgery by trade. They are neurologists who first met the patient five years ago, and have been treating her headaches with Botox for the past three. While they aren’t touting Botox as a cure for these headaches, their case study does prove that it is an effective treatment. The patient followed in the study consistently reported that each injection relieved her symptoms for a three-month period.
This isn’t the first time Botox has shown useful outside of the plastic surgery realm. It was approved by the FDA in 2010 for treatment of migraines. As was discovered in the Low CSF Pressure Headache case study, Botox doesn’t present a permanent cure here, either. Migraine sufferers maintain their headache-free status with periodic injections in the side of their head, their brow and forehead.
Previously the only treatment for Low CSF Pressure Headaches involved injecting a small amount of the patient’s blood around the area of the leaking spinal fluid, but it was the migraine connection that inspired doctors Mathew and Cutrer to try Botox in this case, after more traditional treatments failed to relieve the patient’s pain.
This is pretty exciting news in the plastic surgery field. As medical science expands the applications of Botox, we continue to find new ways to serve our patients. Of course our wish would be to eliminate these painful headaches altogether, but the existence of a treatment is definitely a step in the right direction.