Rather, doctors try an array of drugs that cross over a variety of categories, including pain-killers, anticonvulsants, antidepressants, sedatives and narcotics. None, to date, have been found to be particularly effective. On the bright side, anesthesia dolorosa Is a very rare complication, and it's one that Cincinnati neurosurgeon and Trigeminal Neuralgia Association Medical Advisory Board member Dr. John M. Tew Jr. says usually improves with time. According to case studies and TNA members with this condition, its slightly more likely to happen as a result of the radio frequency rhizotomy procedure than other surgeries, but even then the incidence is only 2 percent or less. Fortunately, this is a very rare complication'', says TNA President Claire Patterson.
Most surgeries are quite successful.
That's possible because different nerve fibers perform different functions. That's an important trait in telling the difference between true anesthesia dolorosa and a recurrence of T N pain with lingering numbness, says New York neurosurgeon Dr. Ronald Brisman, also a member of TNA's Medical Advisory Board. That distinction affects the course of treatment, he adds. Sometimes there's a heaviness or tightness across the same area, like a vice is across my face. At the same time, my face is numb.