With such a diagnosis as left-sided prosopalgia, not everyone knows which doctor to contact. In general, this complex term in the field of medicine means pain that is localized around the face. In order to find out the cause of its appearance, you will need to go to several specialists at once.
A bit of disease information
Due to the fact that the front part has a complex anatomical organization, pain in this area can appear for various reasons. Defining it will be a little difficult. It may be a lesion of the facial or dental nerve or something else. In any case, only a specialist will be able to answer the question of why left-sided prosopalgia was formed in the presence of examinations and analyzes. The treatment of this disease is very difficult and long-term. As a rule, patients come with this diagnosis to specialists such as an otorhinolaryngologist, neurologist and therapist.
Left-sided prosopalgia: causes of the disease
This ailment appears due to a number of factors, of which there are a large number.
When the jaw and teeth are damaged, odontogenic pains are formed. Unpleasant sensations are transmitted to the face. The causes of this disease are most often caries, damage to the pulp or tooth nerve. In the presence of such symptoms, the pain is pulsating in the jaw area. If you drink cold water or hot tea, the discomfort becomes stronger. For the diagnosis and treatment of left-sided prozopalgia of the face, a dentist consultation is required.
Another common type of this ailment is Slader syndrome. With him, pain is disturbed in the eyes, tongue and ears. Moreover, these discomfort can give to the neck and shoulder blades.
Carotidinia is characterized by pain in the face due to inflammation of the carotid arteries. With this left-sided prosopalgia, discomfort occurs in the neck and teeth. As a rule, a person suffers from this ailment for several hours. It becomes especially unpleasant at the moment when someone touches the carotid arteries.
What is Charlen Syndrome?
In this disease, the main pain is localized in the nose and inner corners of the eye. To everything else conjunctivitis and a runny nose are added to it. Unpleasant sensations are still in the part of the face, temples and forehead. In this case, the movements of the joints are limited, a kind of crunch appears, the masticatory functions are disturbed when eating any food.
With the defeat of the trigeminal nerve, very strong discomfort in the face area is observed. When taking antispasmodic or analgesic drugs, the pain does not disappear. Immediate specialist assistance is needed.
Other causes of left-sided prozopalgia of the face are migraine or otitis media.
What is otalgia?
This phenomenon describes itself as an earache. Unpleasant sensations are localized not only here, but also in the part of the face. A sufficiently large number of diseases can have such symptoms. You should contact a specialist and undergo an examination. Possible nasopharyngeal tumor or venous sinus thrombosis. Also, one should not exclude the case that this is most likely just a migraine. One of the possible diseases with this symptomatology is idiopathic otalgia. It is characterized by the fact that pain in the ear occurs due to unknown reasons.
There is also a red ear syndrome. With this disease, the discomfort is very painful and is given to the jaw and neck. Blood vessels dilate and the skin takes on a reddish hue. And the temperature in the auricle becomes much higher.
Characterization of atypical prosopalgia
This ailment is also characterized by pain in the face and neck. Only here is the reason for their occurrence is not entirely clear and known. The disease, as a rule, develops in women in old age. Usually this includes pain of a vegetative-vascular nature. In the case when the patient suffers from atypical prosopalgia, discomfort always haunts him in the face and goes to the neck. Pain captures one side. If it is bilateral, then asymmetry is characteristic of it.
Glossalgia also refers to this disease, in which pain in the tongue is observed. At the time of an emotional outburst during the day, unpleasant sensations increase or, conversely, decrease. As a rule, it is very difficult for patients to describe the nature of the pain.
What are the classifications of pain syndromes?
According to the development mechanism, somatogenic, psychogenic, vegetative and neurogenic unpleasant sensations are distinguished. The first type is associated with the impact on the human body of damaging factors in trauma. For example, pain with damage to internal organs. Neurogenic syndrome appears due to damage to the structures of the central nervous system.
Vegetalgia occurs with pathologies of internal organs. Psychogenic pains include those unpleasant sensations that, as a rule, arise after strong emotional experiences or depressions. In this case, the patient relies on his condition and describes the situation as he sees it at the moment.
Left-sided prosopalgia: symptoms of the disease
One of the most distinctive signs of this ailment is very strong pain in the face. They may be different in nature. Someone has paroxysmal or aching discomfort, and another patient has acute. It all depends on the cause of left-sided prosopalgia. It also happens that the pain increases when swallowing chewed food or pressing on the jaw, teeth.
In addition to unpleasant sensations in the face, other symptoms appear that also apply to this disease:
- a strong increase in body temperature;
- lack of desire to eat;
- nasal congestion;
- an increase in the size of the lymph nodes;
- disturbance of restful sleep due to severe pain;
- redness of the skin and the appearance of a rash on it;
- typical facial asymmetry;
- periodic tinnitus;
- fatigue and weakness;
- increased lacrimation;
- the appearance of a nervous tic.
How is the diagnosis of the disease?
This process is very long. It includes several stages. To begin with, a specialist collects all the information and analyzes a person’s disease. After that, the doctor asks about what worries the patient, and finds out the causes of these symptoms. If necessary, the therapist then gives direction to such narrow specialists as an otorhinolaryngologist, neurologist and dentist. It should be noted that this procedure is not always mandatory.
Then it will be necessary to undergo an X-ray examination. Thanks to him, it will be possible to find out the nature of the discomfort.
A complete blood count is also a mandatory procedure. From its results we can say whether there is inflammation or not.
Magnetic resonance imaging is prescribed if, with left-sided prosopalgia, diagnosis by previous methods did not give a final conclusion on the disease. Using this procedure, the source of inflammation is established, and, accordingly, you can find out the cause of the development of the disease.
They also make a test for the presence of inflammatory processes on the mucous membrane. Note that these methods are applied only if the rest did not help.
In addition to the above procedures, the therapist and narrow specialists can refer to other diagnostic procedures. In this case, it is necessary to strictly adhere to the prescribed therapy and take only those medicines that are prescribed by the doctor. Do not self-medicate. This will only aggravate the situation. Remember that timely access to a medical institution guarantees recovery without complications.
How is the treatment carried out?
There is no single list of activities for this disease. In left-sided prosopalgia, treatment depends on the causes of its occurrence. In addition, the specialist focuses on the nature of the discomfort and the reasons for their development.
Usually, first of all, the doctor tries to help the patient get rid of the pain with an injection in that part of the face where it arose. Why exactly injections, can not you do with only pills? Unfortunately, in this case, such drugs do not help.
What procedures does a specialist prescribe for a disease?
Sometimes the patient is sent to a physical room. Here the patient undergoes physiotherapeutic procedures where painkillers are used. For example, with left-sided prosopalgia, a disease of the nervous system, electrophoresis with novocaine is often prescribed. Still conducted such treatment methods as hydrocarbon treatment, magnetotherapy and laser therapy. If the human body has inflammation and the process develops, then it is treated with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs.
A general recommendation for all patients is the intake of vitamins. It is this that will increase the body's resistance to all kinds of harmful bacteria, as well as improve immunity protection.
What is the prevention of prosopalgia?
In order for you to get less sick, you should pay more attention to your health and lifestyle. Namely, as mentioned above, to strengthen the immune system, the protective function of the body with vitamins and tempering procedures. Everyone needs to avoid hypothermia. Since because of this, not only left-sided prosopalgia can develop, but also upper respiratory tract infections. For diseases of the ears and teeth, you should immediately consult a specialist so that there are no complications.
Of course, when the first symptoms of prosopalgia appear, you need to go to the doctor and get the appropriate treatment. The sooner you take action, the easier and faster the disease will go.