Clinic's first surgical cure for migraines

The procedure will be carried out at the new Migraine Surgery Centre in Harley Street.

The operation involves removing a muscle in the head that can trigger severe headaches.

More than six million Britons experience migraine attacks, which can last days. At least half of sufferers have at least one attack a month.

Women are particularly at risk, with high-profile sufferers including actress Maureen Lipman.

Until now treatments have involved drugs that mask the pain, rather than being focused on prevention.

Many attacks are triggered by the interaction between nerves in the head and the "corrugator" muscle located above the eyebrows. This can lead to throbbing headaches, disturbed vision and nausea.

The New England Journal of Medicine is due to publish evidence this year of a high success rate for migraine surgery.

Professor Thomas Muehlberger, director of the new centre, said surgery was ef fective because it addressed the cause of migraines. The plastic surgery expert has carried out the procedure on 500 patients at his clinic in Berlin. He said: "Surgery will offer many of those affected a real chance of freeing themselves from their migraines completely, or at least reducing the severity and frequency of their attacks."

Patients have to be screened before undergoing surgery to identify the trigger points for their attacks. They are then given Botox injections to paralyse the corrugator muscle.

Those patients who experience a significant improvement in their symptoms after eight weeks are then offered permanent surgery. Meanwhile, the Parliamentary group on primary headache disorders will begin an inquiry next month into the link between migraines in women and hormones. It follows concern among experts that not enough is being done to identify the cause of the condition.