Masseter muscle hypertrophy occurs as a soft enlargement of the jaw muscles near the angle of the lower jaw and seldom presents a major health problem. However, in some individuals the swelling can be associated with pain or may be so large that it causes facial disfigurement. Although the cause of the condition is unclear it does appear to be more common in certain ethnic groups.
Symptoms such as pain can be treated with muscle relaxants and may also include bite adjustments or involve the use of splints on the teeth. Surgical reduction of the jaw muscle or injections of botulinum toxin type A directly into the muscle are other treatment options. Botulinum toxin type A is a powerful neurotoxin produced by the anaerobic organism Clostridium botulinum. When botulinum toxin type A is injected into a muscle it causes interference with the neurotransmitter mechanism producing selective loss of muscle function and a subsequent decrease in the mass of the muscle.
Although the use of botulinum toxin injections might appear to have certain advantages over surgery the authors of this review did not find any high quality studies that evaluated the effectiveness and potential side effects of botulinum toxin type A for the management of benign masseter hypertrophy. Well-designed randomised controlled trials are needed to assess the effectiveness and safety (i.e. side effects) of this intervention.
We were unable to identify any RCTs or CCTs assessing the efficacy and safety of intra-masseteric injections of botulinum toxin for people with bilateral benign masseter hypertrophy. The absence of high level evidence for the effectiveness of this intervention emphasises the need for well-designed, adequately powered RCTs.
Benign masseter muscle hypertrophy is an uncommon clinical phenomenon of uncertain aetiology which is characterised by a soft swelling near the angle of the mandible. The swelling may on occasion be associated with facial pain and can be prominent enough to be considered cosmetically disfiguring. Varying degrees of success have been reported for some of the treatment options for masseter hypertrophy, which range from simple pharmacotherapy to more invasive surgical reduction. Injection of botulinum toxin type A into the masseter muscle is generally considered a less invasive modality and has been advocated for cosmetic sculpting of the lower face. Botulinum toxin type A is a powerful neurotoxin which is produced by the anaerobic organism Clostridium botulinum and when injected into a muscle causes interference with the neurotransmitter mechanism producing selective paralysis and subsequent atrophy of the muscle.This review is an update of a previously published Cochrane review.
To assess the efficacy and safety of botulinum toxin type A compared to placebo or no treatment, for the management of benign bilateral masseter hypertrophy.
We searched the following databases from inception to April 2013: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL); MEDLINE (via PubMed); EMBASE (via embase.com); Web of Science; CINAHL; Academic Search Premier (via EBSCOhost); ScienceDirect; LILACS (via BIREME); PubMed Central and Google Scholar (from 1700 to 19 April 2013). We searched two bibliographic databases of regional journals (IndMED and Iranmedex) which were expected to contain relevant trials. We also searched reference lists of relevant articles and contacted investigators to identify additional published and unpublished studies.
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled clinical trials (CCTs) comparing intra-masseteric injections of botulinum toxin versus placebo administered for cosmetic facial sculpting in individuals of any age with bilateral benign masseter hypertrophy, which had been self-evaluated and confirmed by clinical and radiological examination were considered for inclusion. We excluded participants with unilateral or compensatory contralateral masseter hypertrophy resulting from head and neck radiotherapy.
Two review authors independently screened the search results. For future updates, two authors will independently extract data and assess trial quality using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Risk ratios (RR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) will be calculated for all dichotomous outcomes and the mean difference (MD) and 95% CI will be calculated for continuous outcomes.
We retrieved 683 unique references to studies. After screening these references 660 were excluded for being non-applicable. We assessed 23 full text articles for eligibility and all of these studies were excluded from the review.