I'm considering this surgery because I've already had an MVD which gave me almost 3 years of relief...but now my TN is back to the extreme that I can't even eat. I'm willing to accept the risk of facial numbness..but I'm curious if anyone here has had this specific procedure? THX as always!
Hi Emma
Try running a search in our search window (top right) for "glycerol". I believe you will find a number of reports. In general, glycerol rhizotomy has a track record for the least persistent pain relief. If I'm recalling correctly, about 50% of all patients who receive this procedure have pain recurrence within a year. RF rhizotomy is done in the same way through the cheek, but uses a more targeted process to create a controlled lesion on the nerve. RF Rhizotomy has statistics almost as good as MVD (~70% pain free success continuing after seven years).
Regards and best,
R.A. "Red" Lawhern, Ph.D.
Resident Research Analyst, LwTN
I live in Canada. My TN started in March 2007 and it took almost two years to diagnose. I took out one Wisdom tooth, another was RootCanaled and another Crowned, against the wishes of my dentist. I was scheduled for MVD surgery many times but I backed out all the time.
Recently, I came into contact with a friend who has the TN for a long time and she took the Glycerol Injection about 5 years back and she is pain free now. It inspired me to meet the same Nurosurgeon in Washington in April 2012 but the cost of the treatment was about $11,000. But I found the same treatment in India, costing only $300 and went to Delhi last month. The doctor had to do the procedure twice and it took about 48 hours after the second injection before the pain went off completely. It is about 20 minutes procedure in the operation Theatre.
I sleep so well nowdays and totally pain free for over one month now. I would recommend and suggest to explore this option before going for MVD surgery.
Side Effect:- There will be some Numbness on the face which will go away eventually in 5-6 months.
Regards,
Rajiv
Your friend has had an unusually positive outcome from glycerol rhizotomy. I wish you well in the future.
Regards, Red