PMID: 18181326Jan 10, 2008Paper

Treatment of Frey's syndrome with botulinum toxin

Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand = Chotmaihet Thangphaet
Mattanee Pomprasit, Chalermchai Chintrakarn

Abstract

Frey s syndrome or Gustatory sweating was first described by Baillarger in 1853. Lucie Frey had described a patient as "auriculotemporal syndrome" in 1923. The explanation for this symptom has been an aberrant regeneration of postganglionic parasympathetic fibers feeding the parotid gland that are severed during parotidectomy. After parotidectomy, these cholinergic parasympathetic fibers regenerate and anastomosis with postganglionic sympathetic fibers that supply vessel and sweat gland of the skin. According to a recent study, the treatment of Frey's syndrome has no treatment of choice. The authors investigated the effectiveness of botulinum toxin type A in the treatment of Frey's syndrome for the first time in Thai patients. The present study was a prospective non-randomized, exploratory study. Nine patients with a median involvement skin area of 4.2 cm2 (1-16.3) were injected intradermal with botulinum toxin type A 2 unit in every 1 cm2 of involved skin. The mean total dose was 10.6 units (range 2-32 unit). All of the patients showed improvement after 4-7 days. Five patients have no Gustatory sweating. In the same way, four patients present with a dramatic decrease in Gustatory sweating. When comparing the skin involvement a...Continue Reading

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