Baylor Health Care System
 

Face pain

Definition

Face pain may be dull and throbbing or an intense, stabbing discomfort in one or both sides of the face or forehead.

Considerations

Pain that starts in the face may be caused by a nerve disorder, an injury, or an infection in a structure of the face. Face pain may also begin elsewhere in the body.

Sometimes face pain occurs for no known reason.

Causes

  • Abscessed tooth (continuous throbbing pain on one side of the lower face aggravated by eating or touching)
  • Cluster headache
  • Herpes zoster (shingles) or herpes simplex (cold sores) infection
  • Injury to the face
  • Migraine
  • Myofascial pain syndrome
  • Sinusitis or sinus infection (dull pain and tenderness around the eyes and cheekbones that worsens when bending forward)
  • Tic douloureux
  • Temporomandibular joint dysfunction syndrome

Review Date: 1/18/2007
Reviewed By: Benjamin W. Van Voorhees, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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