16-year-old Samantha Green has lived with Trigeminal Neuralgia since a young age. The chronic condition is a cranial nerve disorder that affects the trigeminal nerve, which is responsible for carrying sensation from your face to your brain. The condition produces sudden, severe, shock-like feelings of pain in the face. At the age of four, Samantha was finally able to verbalize her pain. The simple act of the wind blowing on her face caused debilitating pain. She spent years visiting ENTs, Dentists, and Neurologists but was left without answers until late last year when she was finally diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia and began medication.
“We had to homeschool her. She missed her whole high school experience,” said Samantha’s Mother Kelly Anderson. “And the thought of COVID over the past two years has terrified me. Wearing a mask causes her extreme pain.”
Kelly had lost hope that her daughter would ever have the ability to work or go to college. But in January, she saw a Facebook post about someone with Trigeminal Neuralgia who underwent surgery for the condition at Orange Park Medical Center with Neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Horowitz. She called right away and was shocked that the very doctor that could cure her daughter was only 3 miles away. The surgery, microvascular decompression, is only available at a handful of hospitals in the U.S.
“When we found Dr. Horowitz it was the miracle we had been praying for, for years. Even after her diagnosis last year, no one ever offered surgery,” said Kelly. “The surgery promptly took away all of her pain. We went from a future of fear and panic to looking forward to the future. We’re forever grateful for this man and his staff.”
The mother and daughter are now going on college visits and Samantha has a job she loves.
“Samantha’s story is especially rewarding,” said Dr. Michael Horowitz, Neurosurgeon at Orange Park Medical Center. “It’s not often that you see someone so young with a cranial nerve disorder. It’s most common in people over the age of 50. Having the chance to give their family answers and help her get a second chance in life is why I do what I do.”
Other cranial nerve disorders include Geniculate Neuralgia, Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia, Hemifacial Spasm, Occipital Neuralgia, and the most common Trigeminal Neuralgia. Symptoms from the disorders vary from excruciating facial pain on one side of the face, deep ear or throat pain, dizziness, hearing loss, weakness, paralysis, and facial twitches.
Treatment for cranial nerve disorders varies from medication to surgical procedures such as microvascular decompression, a minimally invasive surgery that relieves the abnormal compression of the cranial nerve. To learn more about cranial nerve disorders treatment options available at Orange Park Medical Center visit https://OrangeParkPhysicians.com/service/cranial-nerve-disorders.