How to treat trigeminal neuralgia? Trigeminal neuralgia is a disease that is becoming more and more prevalent in our country and is gradually invading our lives. When the medical level is not yet developed, people often use some primitive treatments when suffering from trigeminal neuralgia. For example, hot compresses, cold compresses, acupuncture and other treatments. This kind of treatment can relieve some pain, but it can’t treat the symptoms. It is not a one-time solution to trigeminal neuralgia. If the nerve is stimulated by improper operation, it may trigger the attack of trigeminal neuralgia again. Therefore, this treatment is not recommended. Afterwards, with the continuous progress of medical treatment, these are mainly anti-pain. However, but as the duration of the disease lengthens, the coverage control of the medication decreases and its efficacy decreases. Also, there are some side effects associated with long-term use of these drugs, commonly, drowsiness, vertigo, and digestive disorders. Of course, you can also take some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which we often hear in our daily lives, such as ibuprofen, which has a very good anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect. But medication still cannot solve the root cause of trigeminal neuralgia. Patients face greater pain after medication is ineffective. Is there really no good way to treat trigeminal neuralgia? Therefore, patients diagnosed with primary trigeminal neuralgia should consider surgical treatment. The most popular surgical procedure is microvascular decompression. It can effectively treat the patient’s disease. Surgical treatment of trigeminal neuralgia has more advantages: Microvascular decompression is a treatment method that targets the cause of trigeminal neuralgia and preserves the anatomical integrity of the trigeminal nerve, so the normal nerve function of the trigeminal nerve can be preserved. Because microvascular decompression has the advantages of obvious pain relieving effect, non-destructive, little side injury, and very low recurrence rate, it is the safest and most effective method for trigeminal neuralgia that is recognized internationally. Under general anesthesia, a 4-6 cm longitudinal incision is made behind the affected ear and in the hairline, and a hole is made in the skull with a diameter of about 2 cm to access the pontocerebellar angle under the microscope. Once the responsible vessels are isolated, the source of irritation disappears, and the hyperexcitability of the trigeminal nucleus disappears and returns to normal. In the vast majority of patients, the pain disappears immediately after surgery and normal facial sensation and function are preserved without affecting the quality of life. Is the surgery risky? Many patients are desperate for a cure because of severe pain, but are always worried and afraid at the mention of surgery, always thinking that surgery will require opening the skull – “an incision inside the brain” – and often end up being afraid to undergo surgery, especially in patients with relatively mild symptoms This is especially true for patients with relatively mild symptoms. In fact, this is a misconception. Microvascular decompression surgery for trigeminal neuralgia is a very mature surgical technique that has been used in clinical practice for more than 60 years, and the surgery is not performed inside the brain, but in the subarachnoid space between the brain tissue and the skull, so the risk of surgery is not high. Especially in recent years, the application of minimally invasive surgical techniques has not only significantly improved the surgical efficacy, but also greatly reduced the surgical risk, and microvascular decompression surgery is now the international first choice for the radical treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. Are there any complications of surgery? The most common complications of surgery include hearing loss and facial hyperalgesia, but with the improvement of microsurgery, the incidence of these complications is very low in large neurosurgical institutions, and most of the symptoms of brain nerve damage are mild and can be gradually recovery. There is no need to worry too much about surgical complications.