However, the procedure, which costs £2,700 and is derived from forehead lifts performed by surgeons, is effective at relieving pain over 90% of the time. Moreover, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons accounts that it has hardly any side-effects.

I have a huge number of patients who have not had any symptoms for over five years. They tell me, one after the other, that their lives have changed.

Also the director of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Dr. Guyuron came up with the idea by chance while performing forehead lifts. He recognized that taking out the “frown muscle” (or the corrugator supercilii) appeared to stop migraines in people who have a tendency to experience them. He has performed a number of studies about the procedure and teaches other surgeons on a regular basis.

The “frown muscle” is usually operated, which then allows the additional benefit of having a forehead that is much smoother. Temporalis muscle is another migraine hotspot, which is located in temples and has an important purpose in chewing. Preventing it from actuating migraines leads to having eyebrows that are shifted a little bit to the side and also having a more youthful face.

The procedure has been compared by Dr. Guyuron, in his current study about the subject, with a replica treatment in which the patients were operated on, but muscles were left intact. The proper procedure was carried out on 49 men and women with serious migraines, and 26 had the other surgery. After one year, 57% of the patients who had the full surgical procedure had been healed; on the other hand, only 4% were cured by the other procedure. Altogether, 83% of the patients who had the proper procedure stated that their migraines had ceased completely or were a lot less severe. When other research involving over 400 patients is considered, the rate of success increases to more than 90%.

Dr. Guyuron stated,

Patients are back to work in a week or less and the benefits last for the rest of their lives. I would not call the surgery radical. If it was a ten-hour operation I would call it radical. There was no cure for migraines until I discovered this op. Every patient had to take medication to reduce the potential of migraines or to take the symptoms away.

The British charity Migraine Action’s very own Lee Tomkins accepted the advancement. However, she remarked,

Caution is needed until a scientific assessment of such an intervention is made. We would certainly encourage any future clinical trials.