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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2002 >> Surgery For CH Follow Up (Part 2)
        
(Message started by: DavidGoldberg on Mar 2^nd, 2002, 3:43pm)

Title: Surgery For CH Follow Up (Part 2)
Post by DavidGoldberg on Mar 2^nd, 2002, 3:43pm

The surgery was performed on an out patient basis on August 27th, 2001. The corrugator muscle was resected with an endoscope through the eyelid with very small incisions. The trigeminal nerves on the side of the head were resected also with an endoscope with two small incisions on both sides of the head.

Recovery and Side Effects
The recovery took about I week with most of it due, I believe, due to having my deviated septum repaired. My face around my eyes was “black and blue” for about two weeks. The second week I was able to go back to work with some cosmetics. My scalp and forehead were without sensation after the operation. The feeling has slowly returned and after 5 months I still have “tight feeling in my forehead. I should say I was told about this before the operation and also told it could last for up to 1 year. I was also told that my CH would probably not totally disappear at first. This was also the case. For the first three months I had a few, 3-6 per month, but they were only a 2 on the kip scale. For the last three months I have had none. I did have a lot of tension headaches after the operation. I needed to take acetophenamine almost every day for the first 2-3 months after the operation but have not needed any for the last two months.

Dr. Bahman Guyuron

This is a bio. for Dr. Guyuron, http:// www.cwru.edu/med/plastic/guyuron.html

He is a Clinical Professor, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, CWRU School of Medicine, Zeeba Surgery Center, 29017 Cedar Rd, Lyndhurst, OH 44124. Phone 440-461-7999, fax 440-461-7412.

He has just set up a clinic just for headache surgery staffed with surgeons and neurologists. I would suggest contacting Janine Davis, R.N. his clinical assistant for more information.

There are lots of articles on the Internet about him. Here are a couple;

www.plasticsurgery.org/mediactr/procmig.htm

www.migraines.org/about_media/wbmd0900.htm

The main medical journal article is in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, August 2000 This article is not on the Internet but I imagine you can get it from Dr. Guyuron

Conclusion
Al I can say it worked for me. I had passed the stage from acute to chronic and my CH were not as intense as they once were. If you have acute attacks perhaps the results will not be as good. Time will tell of how long I will be free of CH. Everyone of course will have to make their own decision. I have always been aggressive in my treatment. I tried Maxalt early even though it is only indicated for migraines not CH. Now lots of people use it with great benefit. I don’t see the big downside with the Botox injections as a first step for CH patients.

I know this is experimental surgery but when I found something that worked, at least for me, I wanted to share this information.

Good luck to everyone.