Recovery time depends on the type of procedure you undergo. Most TN surgeries, like rhizotomy and stereotactic radiosurgery, are done on an outpatient basis and full recovery takes several days. Other, more involved procedures like microvascular decompression require general anesthesia and therefore a hospital stay of 2 to 3 days and a recovery time of 4 to 6 weeks.
Some degree of facial numbness is expected after many of these procedures, and trigeminal neuralgia will often return even if the procedure is initially successful.