Tips from the expert

What to do if you have pain on the left side of your face?

Pain in the face can be caused by a problem with the trigeminal nerve.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/staras)

Readers ask, experts answer on the most pressing health issues. Peter K. (51): "I suffer from severe pain in the left side of my face. The upper and lower jaw are particularly affected! The pain is particularly severe when I speak and eat. Medication only helps for a short time. What would you advise me to do?"

Dr. Reinald Brezovsky, specialist in neurosurgery and pain therapy: "You are most likely suffering from trigeminal neuralgia. A vascular loop may be pressing on the facial nerve (5th cranial nerve = trigeminal nerve) after leaving the brain stem. The corresponding region can be visualized in a magnetic resonance tomography of the brain.

If necessary, a neurosurgical procedure can be performed to treat the condition! In this operation, either the nerve's switching point (the ganglion gasseri) is sclerosed with pressure or heat or the vascular loop is relocated and a plastic fleece is placed between the vessel and the nerve as part of a microsurgical procedure.

Before a neurosurgical procedure (surgery), I would try to treat the pain with gentle therapy methods! In addition to acupuncture and electrotherapy, irradiation with cold red light from the Repuls lamp has proved very effective.

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