Looks like folks are putting their tax returns to good use. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) recently reported on an interesting phenomenon this year: people are using their income tax returns to help pay for plastic surgery procedures.

Some might think the procedures that we perform are unattainable except by those in the highest income bracket, but this is a misconception. The cosmetic surgery field offers so many numerous treatments, and we see patients from just about every income level.

One of the greatest things about plastic surgery to me is the sheer variety of services we can offer to our patients. Our field is heavily involved in research, so new procedures are constantly being developed, while existing methods get honed and improved. The result of this is that we can serve a wider variety of patients.

A woman quoted in the ASAPS article discusses her intention to get a breast lift. She relates that she knew she wanted the procedure after the birth of her youngest child. This isn’t a Hollywood actress getting a facelift or Botox treatments to boost her career. This is a mom looking to do something for herself in the midst of packing lunches and giving her kids rides to soccer practice.

That’s what’s so great about the plastic surgery industry today. There isn’t just one market for our services. One patient might walk into the office looking for breast implants and a butt lift to turn heads on the Florida beach, while the next patient we see could be interested in otoplasty to correct his protruding ears, build confidence and improve his career prospects.

The habit of using an income tax return for an elective or luxury purchase is a fairly long-standing tradition for a large part of the American population, but a down economy changes that. Instead, when budgets are tight, many families have to use their tax refunds for practical things like mortgage and car payments.

Seeing that people are choosing to spend that windfall on cosmetic surgery this year signifies that the economy is finally, truly bouncing back, since folks again have the option of using their tax returns for things that aren’t dire needs. We can also assume from this is that patients are looking to cosmetic surgery for the same reasons they always did, including improved self-confidence and better career prospects.

All in all, I’d say this is definitely good news for the economy.

A recent case study from the Mayo clinic is reporting some interesting findings about Botox and its uses outside of cosmetic surgery applications. The results give hope to sufferers of Low CSF Pressure Headaches, a condition caused when a leak in the fluid around the brain creates pressure on the spinal nerves and produces painful, sometimes debilitating headaches.

Researchers presented their findings at a March 13 meeting of the American Academy of Neurology that took place in Hawaii. The patient involved in the case study was a 25-year sufferer of Low CSF Pressure Headaches. The condition had created a negative impact in this woman’s life. She often found her routine disrupted as a result of the intense pain these headaches can cause.

Doctors Paul Mathew, M.D. and Michael Cutrer, M.D. don’t practice cosmetic surgery by trade. They are neurologists who first met the patient five years ago, and have been treating her headaches with Botox for the past three. While they aren’t touting Botox as a cure for these headaches, their case study does prove that it is an effective treatment. The patient followed in the study consistently reported that each injection relieved her symptoms for a three-month period.

This isn’t the first time Botox has shown useful outside of the plastic surgery realm. It was approved by the FDA in 2010 for treatment of migraines. As was discovered in the Low CSF Pressure Headache case study, Botox doesn’t present a permanent cure here, either. Migraine sufferers maintain their headache-free status with periodic injections in the side of their head, their brow and forehead.

Previously the only treatment for Low CSF Pressure Headaches involved injecting a small amount of the patient’s blood around the area of the leaking spinal fluid, but it was the migraine connection that inspired doctors Mathew and Cutrer to try Botox in this case, after more traditional treatments failed to relieve the patient’s pain.

This is pretty exciting news in the plastic surgery field. As medical science expands the applications of Botox, we continue to find new ways to serve our patients. Of course our wish would be to eliminate these painful headaches altogether, but the existence of a treatment is definitely a step in the right direction.