What happens when your face is numb?
Numbness in the face can be a strange and unsettling experience. Whether it’s just one small area or your entire face, here’s what you need to know about what might be causing it and how to deal with it.
The Basics of Numbness
First things first: What is numbness? Simply put, it’s a lack of sensation in an area of the body. This can happen for a variety of reasons – some benign, some more serious.
When you feel numbness in your face, that usually means there is something interfering with the sensory nerves that run from your brain out to those areas. Depending on where the problem lies within that network, you may feel different kinds of sensations (or no sensation at all).
Because these nerves are also responsible for controlling certain muscles in your face, numbness may cause other symptoms too – like difficulty eating or talking properly.
Causes of Face Numbness
There are many possible causes of facial numbness including:
- Trigeminal neuralgia
- Bell’s palsy
- Multiple sclerosis
- Trauma
- Migraine headaches
- Stroke or TIA
Each condition has different symptoms so let’s dive into each one to see which types produce feelings such as tingling and dull pressure on skin nerves!
Trigeminal Neuralgia
Trigeminal neuralgia affects approximately 15k people per year; Not very common but if someone were affected by idiopathic version / primary trigeminal neuralgia they will most likely feel sudden extreme shock-like pain on their cheekbones or jawline due to nerve issues around cheeks and jawbone regions.
Brief moments provide sharp pain attacks randomly throughout months’ time without reason causing drastic changes accompanied by sore throats amongst others stages during infection periods before dying off completely!
Bell’s Palsy
Another condition that can affect your face is Bell’s Palsy. It occurs after excess stress on the facial nerves which are responsible for controlling your facial muscles, causing them to weaken or become paralyzed. This limits their ability to control your eyes and mouth movements.
Typically, people with Bell’s palsy will notice increased difficulty blinking in order to keep their eyes hydrated as well as being unable to form words properly due to incredibly slackened muscle functionality around cheeks, lips and jawlines too treating immediately will allow patients best chance of recovery over time
Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis also commonly refered by the acronym MS has varying side effects from patient to patient but tends primarily cause a loss towards different sensory systems such including eyesight! Additionally there may be unsteadily walking accompanied by mental alertness issues while individuals’ speech patterns slow down leaving lasting numbness ranging modestly anywhere throughout whole bodily regions especially smaller sections like upper lip/forehead fingertips & inner nose sensations are just some of strange feelings occurring during attacks.
Trauma
In physical trauma cases where accidents have created injuries involving neck positions it is common that large jarring forces push nerves together resulting in blockages/tangible neuropathy!
Diagnosis and Treatment
If you’re experiencing numbness in your face (or any other part of your body), one thing is for sure – you should get it checked out by a doctor. They will likely start with a physical exam and ask about any other symptoms you might be having.
Based on what they find, they may recommend further tests – like an MRI or nerve conduction studies – so they can see more clearly what’s going on inside your head (literally).
Once they have a diagnosis, treatment options will depend on the specific cause of numbness. Pharmaceutical solutions prescribed range from anticonvulsants gabapentin/pregabalin/iampametrozole could generally help seizures that come on suddenly last for less than a minute. Surgery may be necessary in severe cases where chord or nerve sections have been dislocated
Medications
Depending on the underlying cause, medication might help with facial numbness. For example, if you’re experiencing nerve-related pain like that from trigeminal neuralgia / Bell’s Palsy then anticonvulsants gabapentin/pregabalin/iampametrozole could generally help seizures especially those that come on suddenly lasting under one minute
Another is amitriptyline which dulls sensations when your nerves are hyperactive due to migraine headaches and will suppress the unwanted impulses during an attack.Additionally steroid treatments can boost anti-inflammatory actions against Bell’s palsy.
Dental Care
If there is diagnosis pointing toward dental care influencing factors causing numbness then chances are you might need braces/teeth alignment procedures to rid of a compressed sensation on teeth resulting from growing jaw bone pushing towards part of face deactivating some sensory ness around cheeks/fingers.
In most other cases however regular brushing flossing whitening thats focused well as providing daily apointments dealing w routine issues should suffice alleviating sensory deficits inside mouth area particularly by targeting any impacted molar areas or damaged nervous tissues directly instead?
Coping With Numbness
Living with facial numbness can be challenging at times, but there are things you can do to cope:
- Use heat or cold therapy: Depending on the underlying cause and location of the numbness, applying warm compresses or rubbing ice cubes along affected areas can improve blood flow allowing healthier recovery
- Rest and sleep: Nothing quite beats giving yourself time each day where focus entirely upon relaxation either through power naps slumber longer periods stretching exercises yoga all work wonders alike stimulating circulation whilst calming senses
- Eat healthy foods high in vitamin B: Foods rich with vitamins lower risk significantly leading consistent neurotransmission between nerves/brain
- Stay hydrated: Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water to keep your body healthy and nourished.
- Consult with loved ones for emotional support.
When to Seek Medical Help
Most cases where numbness to facial area occurs either gradually or suddenly usually don’t indicate life threatening implications; however, some symptoms can be more serious and may require immediate medical attention.
If you’re experiencing any other symptoms – like difficulty speaking, weakness on one side of the face / limb movement , confusion, severe headaches or vision issues accompany what feels like a moderate facial paralysis seek professional assistance urgently!
Conclusion
Facial numbness is never pleasant but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything terrible. There are many possible causes for this strange sensation and treating each case individually with professional check-Ups is vital in order understand underlying neurological conditions producing these effects over time!