19/02/2025
A diagnosis of trigeminal neuralgia can be made on history alone. Typically the patient is a middle-aged female who presents with unilateral facial pain in the distribution of the trigeminal nerve (V1/V2/V2 territories). The pain is described as short, episodic, stabbing-like episodes of pains lasting from a fraction of a second up to three seconds. These episodes may occur up to 200 times per day. Pain may be either triggered or spontaneous. Common triggers causing onset of pain include chewing on affected side, cold wind, inability to brush teeth or wear dentures, inability to brush hair or rub affected side of face. Usually patients are pain-free between pain paroxysms but at times, a dull, continuous pain may be present.
