The botulinum toxin that has its uses in face-lifts as to relieve faces of wrinkles, crow's feet or even signs of ageing besides adding volume to lips is also known to offer relief from pain especially for migraines and eye spasms. A new study has found another pain relieving use for the toxin in treating a condition called trigeminal neuralgia that results in intense facial pain.
The study published in the current issue of the American Academy of Neurology, a scientific jornal,suggests that the disorder's pain attacks triggered by simple actions such as speech, brushing or swallowing could find relief with the botulinum toxin A. The typical stabbing, severe and shock-like pain on one of the jaw sides or cheeks, more likely to occur in women, is currently treated with anticonvulsants and at worst surgery.
But Brazilian and American researchers studying the effects of botulinum toxin type A on trigeminal neuralgia patients believe that the pain significantly reduced 10 days post-treatment to leave them almost totally pain-free after 20 days.
At the end of two months, four out of the 13 initial patients had no need for any medications while the others took less than 50 percent of what they were taking at the start of the study. Neurologist, Elcio Juliato Piovesan, from Brazil's Federal University of Parana said, “Drugs are not always effective in treating trigeminal neuralgia… Some patients avoid them because of side effects, and then their pain is more intense and longer-lasting”.
He observed that unlike medications, the botulinum toxin had no major side effects but “a placebo-controlled clinical trial” is necessary to confirm the study's findings, besides a longer follow-up observation period.
All the thirteen patients had endured severe facial pain caused by trigeminal neuralgia, before their botox treatment. And during the study they benefited hugely in terms of pain relief from just one Botox injection targeting the affected facial region. With a drop in intensity of pain, the patient's need for medication dropped to the extent of making four of them quit medication altogether.
But since the study ended in two months, the researchers were not sure until how long the effects of the Botox injection would last. However they were aware that the pains had begun to increase slightly by 60th day of the study, indicative of the treatments effect starting to wear off.
In order to take the findings of this preliminary study further and arrive at an optimum course of treatment for trigeminal neuralgia with the botulinum toxin A, researchers will need to make another study with a larger sample over a longer term. There is also a need to understand what could be the possible long-term effects of such a treatment, especially when multiple courses of injection are needed after the effect wears off.
It should not turn out that the botox injections raise the propensity for pain due to body's ability to build resistance after several exposures. Meanwhile, cheers to botox that turns out not just as a panacea for cosmetic problems, but a relief for the most severe pains above the neck.
