-
Mayo Clinic Minute
Mayo Clinic Minute: Treating severe headaches caused by nerve compression
Share this:
Some severe headaches aren't migraines. They may be caused by a nerve being pinched. When other treatments don't work, surgery may offer relief. Learn more from Dr. Antonio Forte, a Mayo Clinic microvascular plastic and reconstructive surgeon with deep experience in migraine surgery.
Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1:14) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.
Often called trigger site-induced headaches, pain from compressed nerves can last all day and be resistant to treatments like medication.
"Headaches that originate from compression of the occipital nerve will usually have a pain that starts on the back of the neck and radiates to the side of the head," says Dr. Forte. "Patients who have headaches that originate from compression of the supraorbital and supratrochlear nerve, they will usually start with a pain site that is above their eye, and that pain will radiate to their forehead."
Evaluation and care
Nerves can be compressed by surrounding tissue or muscle. At Mayo Clinic, patients are evaluated by a multidisciplinary team that gathers the necessary data and imaging to develop a personalized care plan, which may include surgical nerve decompression.
Dr. Forte explains that occipital nerve decompression starts with a 5-centimeter incision made along the hairline.
"We are able to then identify your greater occipital nerve and then remove the adjacent muscle and fascia that may be compressing the nerve," he says. "When patients undergo surgery for decompression of the supraorbital or supratrochlear nerve, we then perform an incision that is similar to the incision that we do when we are performing a cosmetic eyelid surgery."
Surrounding tissue is removed to relieve pressure on the nerve. Dr. Forte says many patients feel relief within weeks of nerve decompression surgery.
