Trigeminal Neuralgia

Hemifacial spasm usually begins with intermittent twitching around the eye on one side of the face. Over time the twitching spreads to involve the rest of the face.

“Anesthesia dolorosa” is Latin for “painful numbness.” ... It’s exactly the same feeling as a novocaine injection. If you have had novocaine for dental procedures and remember that feeling as particularly uncomfortable, you may not want to have a radio frequency lesion for trigeminal neuralgia.

Rarely, a nerve in the mouth may be injured during a dental procedure, like a tooth extraction or a root canal. This leads to the immediate onset of a constant, burning, or aching pain in the distribution of the trigeminal nerve supplying that tooth, including the face. There is often some numbness.

Herpes zoster is a virus that causes chicken pox in childhood. In adult life, if it recurs, it causes “shingles”, an outbreak of small lesions on the skin. They usually occur in the distribution of a nerve root. If the nerve root is the trigeminal nerve, the outbreak will occur on the face, usually in V1, the forehead and eye. The outbreak is painful. If you have this you should seek immediate medical attention, since early drug treatment can prevent chronic pain.