botulinum toxin injections

Meige syndrome

Dr. Marie-Hélène MarionLeave a comment

Henry Meige (1866-1940)

A grimacing face … not an expression of pain or disgust but a neurological condition:

A Meige syndrome

 Forceful dystonic spasms of the face, in particular when trying to speak or to eat have been called Meige syndrome.

 Henry Meige was a French neurologist who published as a junior neurologist, about facial tics with his friend Feindel in 1894 and 2 years later with his maitre Brissaud about neck dystonia, which he is called Torticollis mental (1896). From then, he studied patients with facial movements disorders, not only the tics but what he called “les convulsions de la face”. He also kept a fascination for the spasmodic torticollis that he recognized publically as an organic disease in 1929 after seeing patients suffering from Encephalitis Lethargica and reading the work of Oppenheim (1911) on Dystonia Musculorum Deformans.

In 1910 he described a Bi-blepharospasm (what we call now Blepharospasm) to emphasize that both eyes were affected, with sometimes a positive family history and which could spread to the laryngeal, mouth floor, jaw  and even tongue muscles.

Meige syndrome is now an eponym to describe a blepharospasm associated with a dystonia of the muscles of the lower part of the face and the larynx as described by Meige in 1910. Patients with Meige syndrome are patients over the age of 60, who complains of involuntary eye closure when trying to speak or to chew. The speech or the chewing is affected and the tongue is involuntary pulled out. It usually starts with a blepharospasm, which spreads down in 35 % of the cases to the mouth and the neck. The pattern of activation of the eye closure changes from an isolated blepharospasm which is better when the patient is speaking and worst when the patient is silent to a spasm of eye closure when the mouth is activated.

Meige syndrome has to be treated actively with anticholinergic drugs if tolerated, clonazepam and Botulinum toxin injections into all the dystonic muscles of the face (eyes, jaw, tongue, larynx, neck) ; the facial grimaces can settle and patients with Meige syndrome should keep hope for a better future.

More study is needed to understand the long term prognosis of this condition.

For further reading, I advice you 2 papers from 1976 and 1982 of Professor CD Marsden

Spastic dysphonia,Meige disease and torsion dystonia. CD Marsden, MP Sheehy.1982

http://www.neurology.org/content/32/10/1202.extract

Blepharospasm-oromandibular dystonia syndrome: a form of adult –onset torsion dystonia, CD Marsden, 1976

http://ukpmc.ac.uk/articles/PMC492566/pdf/jnnpsyc00174-0060.pdf

Emergency Botox clinic for dystonic patients, provided by Dr Marie-Helene Marion, neurologist.

Dr. Marie-Hélène MarionLeave a comment

Emergency Botox clinic, for dystonic patients, provided by Dr Marie-Helene Marion, neurologist.

Severe cervical dystonia (torticollis), head tremor,  blepharospasm  and jaw spasms are so incapacitating that patients  often can’t wait 3 months or even 3 weeks to be treated. Dr M-H Marion is available to see patients at short notice and to proceed the same day with Botulinum toxin injections.

Patients who have been recently diagnosed, and have severe dystonia or dystonic tremor, sometimes find it difficult to cope any longer with the spasms in their face or neck; they may have been referred to a specialist center but have to wait for a few weeks  (or longer) to be seen and injected. Patients also who are regularly treated, require sometimes to be injected outside their normal therapeutic schedule, because the benefit is wearing off earlier, than usual or because unpredictable life events disrupt their time table or because their dystonia  has recently flared up due to stress. These patients can also benefit from Botox emergency clinics.

They will be seen in the London BTX centre, at the Wilbraham Place practice, located in Sloane square (SW1), have the choice between 2 brands of Botulinum toxin type A, and will benefit from electromyographic guided injections if required.  The exact protocol of injections with dosages and sites of injections, documented by sketches of the body part injected, will be given to the patient before leaving the practice. The GP and the regular neurologist will be kept informed.

I hope that this Emergency Botox clinic will help patients with severe dystonic spasm or tremor to get through difficult times of their life and carry on.