Microvascular decompression is a surgical treatment for facial spasm, trigeminal neuralgia, and glossopharyngeal neuralgia. The procedure involves making a small incision in the hairline behind the patient’s affected ear under general anesthesia, with a bone window of approximately 3 cm in diameter, accessing the pontocerebellar horn region under a microscope, exploring the area of travel involving this nerve, loosening all the blood vessels, arachnoid strips of this nerve that may be causing compression, and cushioning these vessels away from the nerve with a material called Tefflon cotton. Once such vessels are isolated, the source of the irritation is gone and the abnormal nerve discharge disappears with it. The vast majority of patients experience immediate postoperative disappearance of pain and spasticity and retain normal facial function.