Facial pain - Causes and Symptoms

Definition

Facial pain is a symptom that can originate in any part of the face, in the context of various pathologies of a neurological, vascular, infectious or dental nature.

The most common causes are dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and trigeminal neuralgia.

TMJ dysfunction can cause intermittent pain, usually unilateral, which spreads to the cheek, jaw, temporal region, ear and nape. Concomitant symptoms are dental malocclusion, articular crackling, tenderness of the joint heads and insertions of the muscles of the area (pterygoid, temporal and masseter).

Trigeminal neuralgia, on the other hand, manifests itself in paroxysmal crises of short-term excruciating pain (from a few seconds to 1-2 minutes), with a tendency to repeat itself over the course of the day. Symptoms usually involve the forehead and the eye, the jaw up to the chin or the upper part of the cheek. There are maneuvers (swallowing, chewing or speaking) or areas (supraorbital region, cheek and nose), called "triggers", capable of triggering the painful crisis. In addition to facial pain, trigeminal neuralgia can cause photophobia, tearing, increased salivation, mydriasis and facial congestion.

Another possible cause of facial pain is sinusitis, an inflammation of the paranasal sinuses, that is the cavities that contain air located inside the bones of the skull, above and laterally to the nose. In the acute form, a throbbing pain appears, aggravated when one bends forward (the site of pain indicates the paranasal sinus concerned), while in the chronic one a sense of heaviness persists.

Facial pain can also be caused by trauma, fractures, oral infections (eg abscesses), abrupt strokes of cold and Herpes zoster infection (shingles).