One form of migraine and headache treatment involves the strategic injection of the product known as BTA to reduce the tension in head and neck muscles.
Dr Rory uses BTA because of its long history of safety and extensive scientific evidence in the use of various medical conditions.
The medical preparation of this toxin has tiny amounts of the active agent (in the form of a purified protein derived from the bacteria) that strategically block nerve signals to muscles, thereby relaxing the tension thought to be associated with muscle tension related migraines.
One form of migraine and headache treatment involves the strategic injection of the product known as BTA to reduce the tension in head and neck muscles.
Dr Rory uses BTA because of its long history of safety and extensive scientific evidence in the use of various medical conditions.
The medical preparation of this toxin has tiny amounts of the active agent (in the form of a purified protein derived from the bacteria) that strategically block nerve signals to muscles, thereby relaxing the tension thought to be associated with muscle tension related migraines.
Your suitability for this treatment will be determined during a full assessment no-commitment consultation with Dr Rory and he will provide all the necessary details for your particular case. Not all migraines and heaadaches are treated by muscle relaxing injections.
All treatments are performed in the luxurious state of the art treatment rooms within the clinic either on the day of consultation or after a period of reflection following consultation. The choice is entirely yours.
No formal anaesthesia is required but you may choose to have some topical anaesthesia (numbing cream applied). Dr Rory has a number of other techniques to make your injection experience as comfortable as possible.
Many patients have their treatment and return to work or normal activities that same day with no downtime.
What is the aim of muscle relaxing injections in Migraine?
To reduce the tension in the head and neck muscles thought to be involved in the cause of tension-related migraines.
How many injections do I need?
There will be multiple small injections both sides of the head and neck region in the forehead, temples, back of head, neck and shoulders.
There are 31 injections in total and a total dose of 150 units. This is a standardized dose for all patients.
How long will the results last?
The neurotoxin in BTA acts to block specialised receptors on muscles that receive the nerve signals. This accounts for the muscle relaxing effect.
The body will start to rebuild these receptors and the speed with which this happens obviously depends on the dose of injection but also the muscle and nerve biology of each individual.
With muscle relaxing injections for migraine, this can take anytime from three to six months. This means most individuals can expect movement and therefore tension slowly at about the three month mark and repeat treatments before six months have elapsed is recommended if you want to maintain the tension relief.
This is variable between individuals and you may choose to have more frequent injections if you see a very strong response in terms of relief of symptoms.
What happens on the day of consultation?
On the day of consultation Dr Rory will obtain a full medical history assessing your suitability for the treatment and perform a full assessment and explain if you can be treated and why.
It is important to appreciate muscle relaxing injections are not suitable for all patients. They are considered unsafe if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, suffer from certain neurological diseases, have an allergy to human albumin and also if certain medications are being taken. This will be explained during the consultation process.
If you are suitable, he will then run through the process of consent and injection techniques with you if you are having injections for the first time.
You can choose to have your injections that same day or choose to think about your options and return another day.
If you do choose to go ahead, you will be checked in by a nurse to the treatment room and given consent information to read and sign. All your details will be confirmed with you. Numbing cream may be applied if you wish and after a period of time this is cleaned off and your skin is further prepared.
The injections themselves take no more than ten minutes and a number of techniques are employed to make your experience as comfortable as possible. You are then given post injection instructions and can be discharged when you are feeling comfortable and ready to go.
How long will the treatment take?
If done in isolation, the injections take just ten minutes.
This does not include anaesthesia time. In total, the whole procedure may last longer if numbing cream is used.
Will the procedure be painful?
No, one of the primary aims of any procedure performed by Dr Rory is to create a pain free experience and you have the option of having numbing cream.
Other techniques are also employed to make your experience as comfortable as possible.
In terms of recovery, there may be some very mild tenderness in the injection areas on the day but this is minimized by applying a cold compress after the treatment.
What is the recovery period?
This is essentially a lunchtime treatment and there is no recovery period.
There is always a theoretical risk of bruising as a very small guage needle is being introduced to the skin. There may be some discomfort using the neck and shoulders when exercising for the first two weeks or so, as other muscles may work harder to compensate. The body adapts to this change.
What should I consider when recovering from the procedure?
There is always a theoretical risk of bruising as a very small guage needle is being introduced to the skin.
The golden rule is no leaning forward for any length of time or massage around the eyebrows (such as a facial) for the four hours following injections.
This is to prevent the precise muscle relaxing injections from theroretically migrating to areas where the muscle relaxing effects are unwanted. These areas are into the muscles that keep your eyelids open or eyebrows up and will result in a droopy eyelid (called eyelid ptosis) or eyebrow (called eyebrow or brow ptosis) respectively.
These effects can last as long as the anti-wrinkle injections themselves but these avoidable complications are very rare if the golden rules are adhered to.
The effects of the treatment will start to be apparent from one week onwards and the maximum effect is at approximately two months. This is when your review appointment will be conducted.
Any judgements on the treatment outcome should be left until this time and any adjustments can be made at this important clinic appointment.
If you are entirely happy and are very experienced with these injections, then there is no need to attend this review appointment and just book your repeat treatment at your normal interval.
What is the cost of the treatment?
The cost of the treatment is based on the number of units used. Each unit is priced at 40 AED (excluding VAT).
Therefore, the standard evidence based dose is 150 units and costs 6,000 AED (excluding VAT).
A full no-commitment consultation with Dr Rory will provide all the necessary details for your particular case.
What are the risks of the treatment?
These include some discomfort, infection, risk of bleeding, bruising, temporary headache and rarely eyelid or eyebrow drooping (known as ptosis), failure of treatment.
Anything in particularly important I should know about the treatment?
It’s a quick and simple procedure requiring no downtime with very high satisfaction rates.
It is the very effective at reducing your trapezius muscle bulk and therefore slimming the shoulders.
What is the follow up after the treatment?
Typically it involves seeing Dr Rory approximately two months following your injections for review.
The golden rule is no leaning forward for any length of time or massage around the eyebrows (such as a facial) for the four hours following injections.
If you are entirely happy and are very experienced with these treatments, then there is no need to attend this review appointment and just book your repeat treatment at your normal interval.
Who is involved in my care?
Dr Rory is the primary physician in charge of all your care. He performs all procedures himself and is meticulous about every aspect of your care.
Once he has performed a procedure on you he is available for you as your on-call doctor.
He will provide you with contact details and will be available for you. If you have any questions or concerns at any time he is available to support you.
He has trained his team around him to an exceptionally high standard from his aesthetic coordinators to aesthetic nurses.
