Abstract
Purpose: :
to assess the efficacy of muscolar injection of botulinum toxin for the treatment of primary and secondary hemifacial spasm.Materials and
Methods: :
31 patients with hemifacial spasm were treated with botulinum toxin type A injections (Botox, Allergan, Irvine CA, USA). The mean age of the patients was 76.4 years old (50-93 years old). Patients presented hemifacial spasm for a mean of 50.5 months (6-180 months) before the treatments. Every treatment consisted in an injection of 2.5 U.I. of botulin toxin on 6 sites in the interested hemiface. All patients received their first injection between june 1993 and august 2004. 22 patients (71%) were treated for more than one year. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic and neurologic examinations before and after the treatments with a mean follow-up of 42 months (12-168 months).
Results: :
effectiveness of the therapy persisted for a mean of 3 months (1-6 months) after each treatment. Two (9%) of the 22 patients treated for more than one year had a complete remission of the pathology and two (9%) preferred surgical treatment after 5 years treatments. We reported the following complications in 4 patients: lachrymation, lagophtalmos, cheratitis, dry eye, diplopia, inferior palpebral ectropion and superior palpebral ptosis .
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: outcomes/complications • eyelid • neuro-ophthalmology: diagnosis