left sided facial pain

[SarahOB]

I have had left sided facial pain for more than 2 years. Mostly in my cheek bone. The pain goes into my eye at times and up the side of my nose. The pain is constant aching. There is a pinching, burning,and numbness (this is new) at times. I have gone to the ENT and had 2 surgeries on my sinuses, 1 surgery on my tear duct on the left side because of the constant tearing I have had dental xrays they show nothing. Nothing has helped. My General Practice doc. said if the new med. Amatriptaline does not work I will have to see a neurologist. I have been on the Amatriptaline for a week now with no pian relief. I think my doctor has the idea that this is related to depression. I do not think so, but everytime i talk to her about this she brings up depression. The only thing that is depressing me is the constant pain in my face. I need to know what is going on. It has been too long and I am very discouraged!

[juliemh]

Hi Sarah, I see Dr. Sharma has answered your question, I wish I had sought answers when I began experiencing facial pain on right side several years ago. I had no idea there were so many possible causes as the good doctor shared with you.  The pain you describe sounds very much like what I have.  Initially, I thought it must be a bad tooth so I went to the dentist...then an endodontist...then an oral surgeon...I had 2 teeth filled but pain still there...same 2 had root canals and crowns, but pains still there... root canal retreatments on same 2 teeth but pain still there...untimately had extractions on both of those teeth but the pain was still there, in fact it had progressively gotten worse.  Keep in mind, the dental procedures were done over several years due to insurance allotments.  Long story not quite as long...I got labeled as having "drug-seeking behavior" because I still complained of pain and the dental community had done all they could for me. Never once did any one of them suggest the possibility that there could be another cause.  A couple of years later I experienced about a 24 hour period of vertigo, went to my PCP, was referred to a Neurologist and finally given a diagnosis of Trigeminal Neuralgia.  I won't get into the years that followed, that is another story.  Needless to say, I do get the depression thing, I don't know how many times I've said the same thing...'I wouldn't be depressed if I didn't have this pain'.  The pain I have is on the right side only, you could draw a line down the middle of my face to separate 'pain' and 'no pain'. Enough about me, I truly hope you find the source of your pain and begin to get treatment, I know what you are experiencing is almost unbearable at times.  Thanks to Dr. Sharma you have a lot of avenues to explore which will lead you to the right health care professional(s) to help you. You'll be in my thoughts and prayers.

[Dr Sharma]

Hi there. The causes for pain in face are an abscess in tooth, cluster headache, herpes zoster or simplex, facial injury, migraine, myofascial pain syndrome, sinusitis but has been ruled out by endoscopy,  tic douloureux, or tempero mandibular joint dysfunction syndrome etc.  You can consider these options with your neurologist, though trigeminal neuralgia is a fair possibility. treatment would include painkillers, tricyclic anti depressants etc. Hope this helps. Take care.