In youth-obsessed cultures like our own, the words "plastic surgery" brings forth visions of too-tight facial skin, over-done collagen lips, and body parts made far larger than they were meant to be. What the majority of the public knows about plastic surgery comes from what they see in the faces and bodies of celebrities and other Hollywood types.

What is often forgotten when discussing even cheap plastic surgery is the legitimate needs which the procedures were originally designed to address. People who have suffered from catastrophic injuries, with a broken nose or a deviated septum, women who have had mastectomies due to cancer, children with a cleft palette and more, have their lives changed forever by the miracles of reconstructive surgery. Now, doctors are discovering another serious medical use for cosmetic surgery: treatment, or even long-term relief, of paralyzing migraine headaches.

Statistics estimate that up to 30 million Americans suffer from migraines with global estimates much higher, and a large percentage of those are completely sidelined by the pain, light and sound sensitivity for over two weeks per month. Unfortunately, doctors aren't certain what might cause migraines in people, and so treating them is often a guessing game. What works for one patient may not work for another, and the same treatment might not be effective consistently in the same patient over time. "Successful" treatment results for a patient might be a 50% reduction in number of attacks and/or degree of pain, which, while an improvement, leaves patients still suffering.

In 2009, a new hope appeared on the horizon. Anecdotal evidence indicated to doctors that people receiving certain types of face lifts - specifically, to smooth the brow -- were experiencing relief of debilitating migraines as a side effect. Dr. Bahman Guyuron, chairman of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at University Hospitals at Case Medical Centre in Cleveland, Ohio, performed formal studies on two groups of migraine sufferers, one which received the facial surgery, and the other receiving a "fake" surgery. The results surprised even the research team: over half of those who received the true surgery experienced complete elimination of migraine pain within one year, as opposed to less than five percent in the control group.

While the surgery is considered a last resort when other treatment techniques have failed, for people who have reached that point, a simple, relatively safe, cheap plastic surgery is a small price to pay to reclaim a life limited by crippling pain. Approximately 150 doctors have been trained by Dr. Guyuron thus far, but increasing reports of success from patients all but assure that use of the procedure will increase in the future, allowing more migraine patients precious relief.