Neuralgia of the face

by Loretta
(Melbourne)

Is the use of Botox an effective pain blocker for the use of neuralgia on the face, only one side is affected, but extremely painful. This question is for a 74yr.old lady. The current medication she is on is not working 100%, and its been 6 months approx. so Botox came up possibly as an alternative, and is it safe for ongoing use? Many thanks, Loretta

Trigminal neuralgia and Botox

Trigeminal neuralgia and Botox use has been shown to be of benefit, but only in a small study as far as I am aware. It is injected into the affected area of the face. Whether the effect is from the muscle relaxant effect to reduce pressure on the nerve or a direct effect on the nerve is uncertain, but it might be a combination of the two. Im not sure there have been any large studies on this or any randomised trials.

As you know, trigeminal neuralgia is a very painful and debilitating condition and sufferers can become suicidal with the pain. There have been lots of different medications tried including analgesics, anticonvulsants such as carbamazepine, phenytoin, gabapentin and many more, working to varying degrees and I suspect you have probably tried some of these. I presume that Botox is being considered as other treatments have been ineffective?

As to the safety and long term benefits of Botox for trigeminal neuralgia, Botox has been used for many years now and in lots of different medical conditions and appears to be safe. As to how long Botox works in this condition, I'm unable to give you an answer to this as I understand the study outlined above only followed patients for a short time. I hope it works for you and wish you well with this. Good luck with the treatment!