Overview
Headaches and facial pain can be disruptive and even debilitating. At Cleveland Clinic in Florida, we offer a range of advanced treatments to relieve pain and improve your quality of life.
Our Headache and Facial Pain Center is one of the highest-volume programs of its kind in South Florida. An entire team of experienced specialists works together to bring you personalized, effective treatment.
Why Choose Cleveland Clinic in Florida?
When you choose Cleveland Clinic in Florida for headache and facial pain treatment, you benefit from:
- Access to multiple experts: The Headache and Facial Pain Center is a part of the Center for Neurological Restoration at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Our specialists regularly consult with the Cleveland Clinic team in Ohio, meaning multiple experts bring you the most effective treatments.
- Team-based care: Our multispecialty team includes neurosurgery, neurology, psychology, pain management and neurointerventional radiology. This collaborative approach expands your treatment options and leads to better outcomes. Meet our team.
- Expert treatments: You have access to a full range of leading-edge treatments, including minimally invasive options. For example, CT-guided balloon compression is an innovative technique targeting the trigeminal nerve with a small balloon, needle and intraoperative CT guidance. Our specialists also research the most promising new treatments, often allowing you access to new therapies through clinical trials.
What We Treat
Our team provides personalized treatment for a broad range of headache and facial nerve pain conditions, including:
- Cluster headaches.
- Dizziness and vertigo.
- Fibromyalgia and other myofascial pain syndromes.
- Migraines, with and without migraine aura.
- Tension-type headaches.
- Trigeminal neuralgia.
- Glossopharyngeal neuralgia.
- Hemifacial spasm.
- Postherpetic neuralgia.
- Supraorbital neuralgia.
- Occipital neuralgia.
Headache Treatments
Our specialists work together to find the root cause of pain and create a treatment plan to alleviate pain and improve your quality of life. Headache treatment may include:
- Medications: We may prescribe medicines that reduce symptoms or prevent headaches from starting. If you experience migraines, you may take medication as soon as you notice migraine symptoms to prevent them from progressing.
- Outpatient procedures: We offer multiple procedures that allow you to return home the same day, including botulinum toxin (Botox®) injections, occipital nerve blocks, trigger point injections and intranasal sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) blocks.
- Outpatient infusions: Medication infusions can provide urgent and effective treatment, preventing unnecessary emergency room visits.
Trigeminal Neuralgia Treatment
Trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic, painful condition that causes intense, shock-like pain in the side of your face. Take an assessment to learn more about your trigeminal neuralgia risk.
Trigeminal neuralgia treatment may start with medicines such as anticonvulsants, antidepressants or muscle relaxants. When medications aren’t effective, we offer a range of additional treatment options, including:
- Balloon compression: With CT-guided balloon compression, we pass a small needle through your cheek and to your trigeminal nerve. Your doctor inserts a catheter and tiny balloon through the needle and inflates the balloon using imaging guidance. This compresses the nerve and treats the pain-causing nerve fibers.
- Botulinum toxin injections: You may receive botulinum toxin injections at specific trigger points on your face. These injections target the trigger point muscles related to trigeminal neuralgia.
- Intranasal and trigeminal nerve blocks: These injections block the trigeminal nerve to relieve facial pain. Many people need multiple nerve blocks for lasting relief; however, the effects tend to last longer with each treatment.
- Microvascular decompression surgery: Microvascular decompression may be effective when a blood vessel compresses your trigeminal nerve. Your surgeon places a small piece of Teflon between the blood vessel and nerve to relieve the compression.
- Radiofrequency ablation: This treatment directs heat to the trigeminal nerve. Your provider delivers the heat through a needle, strategically injuring the trigeminal nerve to stop it from sending pain signals to your brain.
- Stereotactic radiosurgery: Despite its name, stereotactic radiosurgery is not a surgical procedure. Instead, it uses focused radiation to injure the trigeminal nerve and block it from sending pain signals to your brain.
Clinical Trials
Our headache and facial pain team, along with researchers at our Florida Research and Innovation Center, lead clinical trials and study the newest advances in treatments. Talk to your doctor to see if you may be eligible to participate in a clinical trial.
Appointments & Locations
Make an appointment at a Cleveland Clinic location in Florida, or schedule a virtual visit.
