Trigeminial Neuralgia

Introduction & Overview

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN), or tic douloureux, is an extreme, sporadic, sudden burning or shock like chronic facial pain lasting from a few seconds to about 2 minutes per episode. The pain is due to malfunctioning of the trigeminal nerve or due to contact between the normal artery or vein and the trigeminal nerve at the base of the brain leading to pressure on the nerve as it enters the brain causing the nerve to misfire (1).

The trigeminal nerve is the fifth of the twelve pairs of cranial nerves that enervate the face and head. The three divisions are as follows:

1. Forehead and eye (ophthalmic V1)

2. Cheek (maxillary V2)

3. Lower face and jaw (mandibular V3).

The functions of the trigeminal nerve are sensing facial touch, pain, temperature and controlling muscles used for chewing. The facial nerve (cranial nerve VII) controls the facial movements (2).

Trigeminal neuralgia often affects women older than 50 years and rarely in people younger than 30 years. It is a very rare pain syndrome with an approximate prevalence of 155 cases per million people globally (3) & (4).

Article by Kona Vishnu, MS
Medical Writer,
OmniMedicalSearch.com

Three facial nerve divisions:

• V1 Forehead and eye
• V2 Cheek
• V3 Lower face and jaw

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