1 6 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • O C T O B E R 2 0 1 8
Ideas Work
That
B
otox is not
just for
smoothing
out wrinkles. Believe
it or not, it can help
with giant hernias. By
giant, I mean at least
20-cm-wide defects
with retracted mus-
cles that would other-
wise be impossible to
close. For these chal-
lenging cases, I inject
Botox into the
abdominal wall
around 4 weeks
before surgery. This
paralyzes and relaxes
the muscle, letting it
stretch out and elongate, giving me a longer stretch of muscle to
work with so I can reconstruct and close the abdominal wall. I do
maybe 4 Botox hernia repairs a year. Insurance doesn't cover the
Botox. The out-of-pocket charge to the patient is $2,000.
Shirin Towfigh, MD, FACS
Beverly Hills (Calif.) Hernia Center
drtowfigh@beverlyhillsherniacenter.com
OFF-LABEL USE
Botox for Hernias? Yup!
• BOTOX FOR HERNIAS? Botox isn't just for wrinkles. One off-label use you might
not have heard of: treating large hernias.
Shirin
Towfigh,
MD,
FACS
