Acupuncture and Botox,
Great for Migraines
Excerpt By Matías A. Loewy, Reuters Health

A traditional Chinese treatment combined with Botox injection may offer relief to millions of migraine sufferers, Brazilian dermatologists report.

Dr. Bertha Miyuki Tamura and Dr. Bobby Chang, of the University of Santo Amaro and the University of Sao Paulo, treated 10 women who experienced long-lasting severe migraines with local injections of Botox in "predetermined and well-known Chinese acupuncture points."

By 14 days after treatment, nine patients were pain-free and one reported minimal pain, the researchers report in an article in Dermatologic Surgery. "Botulinum toxin brings results for more than 3 to 6 months when used in the acupuncture points," they add.

Botox has already been shown to help prevent and treat migraines, but physicians usually inject it into various trigger points that can differ from patient to patient. Acupuncture has been shown to achieve temporary relief of pain in acute migraine.

The combination of Botox and acupuncture principles seems to offer better results than either technique used separately, the authors suggest.

They've gone further by defining easily located acupuncture points for Botox injection, so "every doctor can treat their patients without using secret formulas," Dr. Tamura told Reuters Health.

"From 2000 on, I have treated 73 patients with this technique," she added. "All of them improved, without exception."

SOURCE: Dermatologic Surgery, July 2003.

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