Migraine is one of the most common and most painful neurological diseases. According to the research of the Turkish Headache Epidemiology Working Group, the prevalence of migraine in the 15-55 age group is 21.8 percent in women and 10.9 percent in men. In other words, 16 out of every hundred people suffer from migraine. Migraines are two to three times more common in women than men.
Endoscopic migraine surgery was born when it was seen that the pain disappeared in patients who had migraine complaints at the same time that we had facelift surgery. We have already seen that some of the muscles we cut during forehead lift and eyebrow lift surgeries cause the pressure on these nerves to be lifted. And so we started to apply this treatment often in migraine patients.
The surgery is performed on patients who have been diagnosed with migraine before by neurologists and have certain trigger points that initiate the pain. Trigger points need to be explained here. It is possible for some nerves coming out of the face and nape region to be pressed by muscles or some veins at the point where they exit. If the patient describes that the pain starts from these trigger points, we first inject a toxin known as botox to these trigger points, thereby removing the pressure exerted by the muscles on the nerve. Good results from Botox also show that the patient is a candidate for migraine surgery. In other words, Botox not only helps in appropriate patient diagnosis, but also patients want the permanence of the treatment when the effectiveness is revealed. This is where endoscopic plastic surgery comes into play.
How is the surgery performed?
Depending on the number of trigger points, it can be performed under local or general anesthesia. The process for each point takes approximately 1 hour. For the nerves in the forehead and temple area, we enter through the scalp with special endoscopic instruments and a camera and release the muscles that have a pressure effect on the nerves in these areas. For the trigger point in the nape area, we make a small incision in the region that fits the exit point of the nerve. The nerves that are liberated in surgery are not motor nerves. Sensory nerves that carry the sense of pain. Moreover, we do not cut these nerves in the surgery, the nerves still maintain their old functions. We just take the pressure off them. If the procedure was performed with local anesthesia, it is possible to return to normal life immediately after.
In the procedure performed under general anesthesia, we recommend 1 day of rest.
migraine surgery
