Maxfacts

A quick look at the long and varied diagnosis list of facial pain syndromes, together with the fact that many of these conditions belong to the category of idiopathic (unknown cause) pain, serves as a reminder that the treatment of these conditions often will be frustrating for patients and clinicians alike: more often than not, there will be no straightforward ‘gold standard’ option to manage such conditions.

The theme reflects the entire range of complex behaviours of pain in general, a feature that is by no means limited to facial pain syndromes. Treatment options will thus include the whole breadths of different medications available to suppress or manage different types of pain. There are areas of overlap with a number of neuropathies (nerve damage) and many treatment options for neuropathic pain are similar, if not identical, to the options for the treatment of facial pain syndromes.