Facial Pain Treatment
Face pain is pain felt in any part of the face, including the mouth and eyes. Although it is normally caused by an injury or headache, facial pain may also be caused by a serious medical condition. Most causes of facial pain are harmless.
Cause:
- Migraine
- Tic douloureux
- Cluster headache
- Injury to the face
- Myofascial pain syndrome
- Temporomandibular joint dysfunction syndrome
- Herpes zoster (shingles) or herpes simplex (cold sores) infection
- Abscessed tooth (ongoing throbbing pain on one side of the lower face that gets worse with eating or touching)
- Sinusitis or sinus infection (dull pain and tenderness around the eyes and cheekbones that gets worse when you bend forward)
Treatments
- Medicine
- Physiotherapy
- Sphino palatine ganglion block
- Sympathetic block- stellete ganglion block
- Trigeminal ganglion block/radio frequency ablation
- Temporomandibular joint injection with platelet rich plasma (PRP), manipulation of TM Joint
DESCRIPTION
A typical Facial Pain (ATFP) is a syndrome encompassing a wide group of facial pain problems. ATFP can have many different causes but the symptoms are all similar. Facial pain, often described as burning, aching or cramping, occurs on one side of the face, often in the region of the trigeminal nerve and can extend into the upper neck or back of the scalp. Although rarely as severe as trigeminal neuralgia, facial pain is continuous for ATFP patients, with few, if any periods of remission. Recent studies propose that ATFP is an early form of trigeminal neuralgia. Indeed, some patients have components of both ATFP and TN symptoms. Earlier literature has linked ATFP to “psychological pathology.” Recent studies, however have shown no such link exists
SYMPTOMS
Facial pain, often described as burning, aching or cramping, pinching, pulling, occurs on one side of the face, often in the region of the trigeminal nerve and can extend into the upper neck or back of the scalp. Although rarely as severe as trigeminal neuralgia, facial pain is continuous for ATFP patients, with few, if any periods of remission.
DIAGNOSIS
Diagnosing atypical facial pain is not an easy task. It’s not unusual for ATFP patients to have undergone numerous dental procedures, seen multiple doctors and undergone many medical tests before being successfully diagnosed and treated. A diagnosis of ATFP is usually a process of elimination. When a patient complains of constant facial pain restricted to one side of the face, the physician must first rule out any other conditions. Tests include roentgenograms of the skull, MRI and/ or CT scan with particular attention to the skull base, careful dental and otolaryngolgic evaluation, and thorough neurological examination. Only after tests rule out other factors can a diagnosis of ATFP be