Névralgies de la face

Abstract

Facial nevralgias are rare but debilitating paroxystic or chronic pains. Consensual diagnostic criteria can help to establish the diagnosis, but misleading presentations exist. Trijeminal neuralgia has a pic incidence in women in theirs 1950s. Patients complains of lightning pain in the territory of a branch of the trijeminal nerve. The nerve lesion is most often secondary to a microvascular compression. The pain is triggered by a light sensation on a small area of the face. Pain are severe and sometimes confused with a dental affection. Pharmacotherapy is primarily based on carbamazepine/oxcarbazepine. Microvascular decompression is offered to patients not sufficiently controlled medically. Cluster headache is more common in young men. The pain last 30 minutes to one hour is periorbital. Region and is accompanied by cranial autonomic symptoms. Cluster attacks have a circadian and circumannual rhythmicity. The pathyphysiology is nor fully understood. Intranasal/subcutaneous triptan or high concentration oxygen inhalation are the mainstay of acute treatment. Prevention of cluster recurrence is based on verapamil or lithium administration. Postherpetic neuralgia is defined of the persistence of pain 3 months after a herpes zoster rash. The prevalence of the disease increased with age. It presents as a chronic neuropathic pain that must be treated with appropriate medications. Other facial nevralgias have been described such as occipital or glossopharyngeal nevralgia. Due to their significant impact on quality of life, awareness of the entities is critical an early and to avoid misdiagnosis.