Migraine sufferers find effects of Botox more than skin-deep

A new study says that in some cases Botox may reduce the number of migraine headaches in some patients.

The study was presented at the annual meeting in Philadelphia of the American Headache Society.

To date, Botox's main claim to fame has been smoothing out wrinkles, but this new study shows that its effects may be far more than skin deep.

Researchers in the study looked at a specific group of migraine patients whose frequent attacks necessitated daily preventative medications.

In the U.S. alone there are reputed to be at least 6 million people suffering from this disabling condition.

Researcher David Dodick, MD. from the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, says his team studied 288 migraine sufferers, who on average, experienced headaches on 13.5 days of the month. They were on all around 42 years old, and most were women.

The participants at the start of the study were not taking any medications to prevent the migraines from occurring, says Dodick.

Some of the patients received three treatments of Botox, over a period of 11 months, while the others were given placebo injections.

At the end of an 180 day period, the Botox group had a greater increase in headache-free days.

Their headaches occurred on average on 7.5 days each month, which was six more headache-free days than at the start of the study.

The placebo group, meanwhile also experienced more headache-free days but not as much, they had only 4.5 more headache-free days per month.

Dodick says that by the end of the study, headache frequency was cut by more than half in about 52% of the Botox group.

He says the Botox was very well tolerated and side effects which included neck weakness and neck pain, were usually mild and brief.

Dodick does say that weakness is certainly a recognized side effect of Botox, the neck pain probably came from the injections, which were mainly done in the forehead, temple, and muscles at the back of the head and neck.

Migraines can occur because of trigger points, such as muscles contracting around nerves, which then set off a series of events leading to migraine pain.

The Botox treatment appears to prevent the activation of a facial nerve, which is very important in migraines.

At present Botox is not used to prevent migraines, but more trials are proposed to begin in autumn and early next year.

Dodick hopes results from those trials will be available in late 2006 or early 2007.