What is the surgical treatment of migraine headaches?
The surgical treatment of migraines consists of resecting or weakening the corrugator muscle under local anesthesia. This muscle is located just above the eyebrows and its contraction causes compression of the supraorbital nerve, which is one of the causes of migraines suffered by patients.
Are the results definitive and is any study performed after the surgery?
In 60% of the patients the result is definitive. In the rest we have found that the attacks are very distanced in time and that they also have a much less marked symptomatology than in normal life, so the treatment allows them to incorporate into a social, family and work life in a practically complete way and without any kind of discomfort. We follow up all patients during the first year to check that the healing is correct and that the symptoms have diminished or disappeared completely.
What type of patients is it aimed at?
Migraine surgery is aimed at those patients diagnosed by their neurology specialist with migraine episodes, more than one or two a week, and who begin with symptoms in the area of the corrugator muscles, that is to say, between the eyebrows. These are the patients who are candidates for this type of surgery.