Best Trigeminal Neuralgia Treatment in India

People having trigeminal neuralgia initially get short bout of mild pain, but, if not treated in time, then it gradually aggravates to frequent longer bouts of severe pain. This pain is considered to be the most excruciating pain. There are multiple treatment options available to treat or alleviate trigeminal neuralgia pain if affected people get medical treatment in time. People suspecting trigeminal neuralgia pain visit The Esthetic Clinics for appropriate diagnosis and pain treatment. After diagnosing trigeminal neuralgia pain and its severity, the doctors can recommend effective pain management by surgery or injections or regular medications.

What is trigeminal neuralgia?

Trigeminal is a combination of two Latin words- tria which means three and geminus which means twin. Trigeminal nerve is a set of cranial nerves (a pair of nerves that emanate from the brain and pass through different apertures in a human skull) responsible for providing sensation to the face. Trigeminal is the largest cranial nerves among 12 cranial nerves in human anatomy which carries sensory and motor fibers. There are two trigeminal nerves, one runs to the right side of a head and other to the left side.  Trigeminal nerves are further divided into three terminal branches when they enter into human skull:

• Ophthalmic Nerve (V1): This terminal branch of trigeminal nerve controls sensation in the upper most part of face like forehead, upper eyelids and eyes. This branch of nerves only carries sensory fibers.
• Maxillary Nerve (V2): This is the second branch of trigeminal nerve responsible for controlling sensation in the middle part of face, i.e., between ophthalmic division and mandibular division. This branch of nerves carries only sensory fibers and controls sensations in lower eyelids, nostril, upper lip, cheek and upper gum of human face.
• Mandibular Nerve (V3): This is the third branch of trigeminal nerve and this branch carries both sensory and motor fibers. This branch of the nerves is responsible for sensation for lowest part of human face like lower lip, lower gum, jaw, etc.

Neuralgia is a severe burning or stabbing pain caused by a damaged or irritated trigeminal nerve. Broadly speaking, trigeminal neuralgia pains are of two types- TN1 and TN2. Trigeminal neuralgia 1(TN1) generally occurs around your lips, jaw, eyes, forehead, scalp, jaw, nose, etc. TN1 pain is intensely sharp, shock like pain, throbbing, sporadic etc. Whereas, TN2 pain is a persistent pain, in which, people feel constant aching, burning and this pain is less severe than TN1.

What are the causes of Trigeminal Neuralgia?

Trigeminal neuralgia pain is considered as most terrible pain known to humanity. As mentioned above, this pain is caused by the irritation or disruption of trigeminal nerve.  There are multiple causes of this pain:

• This may happen because of contact between trigeminal neuralgia and a regular blood vessel like artery or vein. This contact may put unwarranted pressure on trigeminal neuralgia nerve which may create this pain.
• Physical damage to the nerve like damage caused by surgical or dental surgical procedure.
• Infection, brain lesion (loss of tissue or cells due to injury or disease), facial trauma etc.
• Ageing is also considered as a probable cause of this pain as this mostly happens to people who are above 50 years.
• A tumor or swollen blood vessel constricting trigeminal nerve.
• It can also happen because of multiple sclerosis which could have damaged myelin sheath of trigeminal neuralgia. Myelin sheath is a protecting sheath around nerves. Multiple sclerosis is a condition that may hurt or damage the myelin sheath.

Symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia pain

People find it difficult to differentiate between ordinary facial pain and trigeminal neuralgia pain in its initial stage. You can identify trigeminal neuralgia pain by its various symptoms. You need a see a doctor nearby to your location if you find any of these symptoms or patterns:

• It has been found that this pain generally happens with people older than 50 years; women are more often affected by trigeminal neuralgia pain than males.
• You may feel bouts of mild to severe electric shock type pain, poking pain, etc on your face. The bouts of pain may be of few seconds or several minutes.
• These pains may be triggered by very simple things like brushing your teeth, touching your face, chewing or even speaking.
• You may predominantly feel this pain in your teeth, gums, jaw, lips, cheek etc, sometimes this pain occur in eye or forehead.
• This pain often occurs in one side of the face at a time, but sometimes in few people it may, simultaneously, affect both sides of face.
• Trigeminal neuralgia pains are sometimes concentrated at one spot, and sometimes it has wider pattern.
• People having trigeminal neuralgia initially feel constant pain or burning sensation before it aggravates into spasm like pain.
• This pain may last for days, weeks, months etc- there is no fixed period for this pain to continue.

Trigeminal Neuralgia diagnosis

You should visit one of our clinics nearby for trigeminal treatment if you feel unusual sharp and severe pain on your scalp, forehead, jaw, nose, lips or around your eyes. The doctor would do the primary investigation to find out the reasons behind your pain. There is little difference between symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia and other facial disorder pains. The doctor would like to investigate that, if you have trigeminal neuralgia, which branch of trigeminal has been affected.  The doctor, after primary investigation, would do the following tests to diagnose the causes behind your pain:

Physical examination: You should brief your detailed medical history to the doctor especially if you had any dental or facial surgery in the recent past. The doctor would physically examine to identify the exact spot where the pain is happening and confirm that you may have trigeminal neuralgia pain. If the doctor suspects that you have trigeminal neuralgia pain on the basis of symptoms mentioned by you and other physical examinations, then he would try to understand which nerve of trigeminal have been affected.

Reflex test: The doctor may do reflex tests to analyze the status of your trigeminal nerves. There are a variety of trigeminal reflex tests conducted to analyze your natural response to various stimuli. The doctor would try to analyze the presence and status of trigeminal nerve reflex of every area through which the trigeminal nerves pass.

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging): The doctor may recommend MRI tests to investigate if any tumor or multiple sclerosis is affecting your trigeminal nerves and causing trigeminal neuralgia. This test may be recommended by the doctor to identify if any swollen blood vessels are suppressing your trigeminal nerves.

Trigeminal neuralgia pain treatment

The doctors at The Esthetics Clinics would usually recommend personalized treatment of trigeminal neuralgia – medications, injections and surgery. Generally, doctors would initiate the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia with medications and, subsequently, if required, injections, and then the doctors would recommend surgery.

Medications: After proper investigations to confirm trigeminal neuralgia and the trigeminal branch that has been affected, the doctor would recommend appropriate medication. The doctor would prescribe medicines to alleviate trigeminal neuralgia pain by blocking or lessening pain signals sent to the brain.

Injections: The doctor may recommend injections to alleviate the trigeminal neuralgia pain. The injections and doses would be prescribed as per the treatment required for patients. These injections would relieve the pain and allow people to do their regular activities like chewing, biting, swallowing etc without any pain.

Trigeminal Neuralgia Surgery:  There are various surgical options available to treat or alleviate trigeminal neuralgia. The doctors would recommend appropriate surgery after assessing medical history of patient, age, status of trigeminal neuralgia, surgery associated risks, etc. The surgeon may usually conduct one of the following surgeries:

Microvascular decompression: This is considered to be the most effective surgery to treat trigeminal neuralgia but it is also the most invasive surgery as the surgeon has to open the skull. Under this procedure, our best surgeon would identify the blood vessel or artery which may be constricting the trigeminal nerve. The surgeon would slightly remove the blood vessel or artery to decompress the trigeminal nerve. This surgery would allow trigeminal nerve to heal, recover and return to its original pain free functioning.

• Steriotactic radiosurgery: This is non invasive procedure hence it avoids the risks associated with open surgeries. In this procedure, the surgeon would direct a single focused dose of ionizing radiation to a precise target at the root of trigeminal nerve. This procedure succeeds in eliminating or reducing pain in most of the patients gradually.
• Neuromodulation: This is another effective surgical procedure in which the surgeons would place soft tissues having one or more electrodes near the trigeminal nerves. Depending upon the required treatment, the surgeon may place the soft tissue, with one or more electrodes, on the covering of the brain under the human skull, or may be little deeper into the brain. The soft tissue will deliver electrical stimulation to that part of brain which manages sensation of the face to ease or eradicate trigeminal neuralgia pain.

Trigeminal neuralgia treatment cost

Trigeminal neuralgia treatment cost depends upon the diagnosis cost of trigeminal neuralgia, treatment options, medical history of patients, etc. You may visit one of our clinics for detailed medical analysis. After the diagnosis of trigeminal neuralgia and the affected trigeminal nerves, our surgeons would suggest detailed medical treatments to alleviate and cure trigeminal neuralgia pain. They may also suggest the price of the suggested medical treatments.

Why to choose The Esthetics Clinics for trigeminal neuralgia treatment?

Trigeminal neuralgia treatment requires detailed medical analysis to confirm trigeminal neuralgia and detailed investigation to identify affected trigeminal nerves that is creating the pain. We have experienced surgeons, plastic surgeon and cosmetic surgeon to treat patients having mild to severe trigeminal neuralgia pain. You can visit one of our clinics for initial medical assessment for trigeminal neuralgia, various types of treatments including surgery, and post surgery healing of trigeminal nerves.

Dr Debraj Shome, a well-known celebrity surgeon, leads team of experienced surgeons, plastic surgeons, cosmetic surgeons who are equipped to treat and alleviate trigeminal neuralgia pain. Dr Debraj Shome recently became one of the very few surgeons from Asia to become a Fellow of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery (FAACS) and he has also been awarded as the best plastic surgeon in India.

You may visit one of our clinics for full range of dental and facial services including treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. You will find various services including preliminary investigation, marking of affected trigeminal nerve, treatment and post treatment support, all at one center.