Botox for Migraines

botox for migraines by new york  plastic surgeon dr nicholas vendemia of manhattan aesthetic surgeryI do quite a few Botox treatments for migraines, and I wanted to share one of my recent experiences with you.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to treat a woman who traveled from Washington DC to have Botox therapy for her very severe migraines. She had been treated previously in California, Canada, and in several other locations, and although she experienced some relief from those treatments, she never actually “broke the migraine cycle” as I like to call it. Her headaches were less intense and slightly less frequent, but she was still tied to her oral migraine medications (and to their side effects).

I treated her with my standard Botox for Migraines treatment protocol, which includes upwards of 75 units of Botox injected precisely throughout six trigger sites, and explained to her that I didn’t expect to see any change in her headaches until we broke the headache cycle, which usually takes about 6 months. Once the cycle is broken, the vast majority of my migraine patients are as close to headache-free as they have ever been, and most are able to do without any oral medications. The treatment took about 30 minutes from start to finish and went exactly as planned. She returned to Washington DC with a follow up appointment scheduled four months later.

This week she came in for her 4-month follow up and second treatment in the series, and I was surprised to hear that not only had the frequency and intensity of her headaches decreased as compared to her previous treatments, but she has also been using less oral medications already, even in stressful migraine-inducing situations. In addition, she has also been able to do things that she hasn’t been able to do for years, like wearing her hair up in a pony tail and spend time outside on very bright sunny days, because usually trigger a headache.

This is one of my worst migraine patients (and I’ve treated migraine patients from all over the country), and to see her experience relief like this after only one treatment session is fantastic, and tells me that our protocol really works. I am constantly evaluating and refining this protocol to enhance the results whenever I can, and this may be the fruit of that labor since I don’t typically see results this good from just one treatment. That being said, I do commonly see results this dramatic after 2-3 cycles of Botox therapy, which is usually what it takes to break the headache cycle and get my patients free from migraines and migraine medications.

If you have any questions or would like more information on Botox treatment for migraine, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 917-703-7069, or send us a message through our website.

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