Migraine Headaches

For around five percent of Australians, migraine headaches are a debilitating medical condition which can cause nausea, vomiting, loss of vision and severe pain.

Injections of botulinum toxin are more commonly associated with smoothing out wrinkles, but there is now significant clinical evidence that botulinum toxin reduces the pain in migraine, muscle contraction headache, chronic tension headache and neck muscle spasm.  In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved these injections to prevent headaches in adult patients with chronic migraine.  Watch a recent segment on Channel 7's Sunrise show here.

This treatment offers several advantages over current drug therapy.  When effective, your need for daily medications or acute treatment for severe attacks are significantly reduced or even entirely eliminated. 

There are essentially no side effects from the injections, except for minimal discomfort or bruising at the time of injection.

Here at the Melbourne Cosmetic Group, we make an injection into the forehead and/or neck where you are experiencing pain and tension.  The botulinum toxin is thought to reduce migraines by reducing muscle tension, thus creating less strain on your nervous system.  What has also been noted is that there is often a reduction in pain that is more significant than the muscle effect and that this pain effect lasts longer.  It is possible that small nerves containing pain-producing chemicals are affected by the botulinum toxin.  It is also likely that there are other mechanisms, not yet understood, for the effect of botulinum injections.

Overall, this is an effective, virtually risk-free treatment for many types of chronic headache.  In many instances this is a less expensive alternative to other therapies or frequent use of medication.  Nonetheless, the treatment does not work in every patient and alternative therapies must be kept in mind.

To find out if you are suitable for this treatment, or for more information, contact us now for a free consultation.