Tic douloureux of the chorda tympani.

Abstract

HUNT 1 IN 1907 first described what he called neuralgia after his observation of herpes together with sensory changes and pain accompanying peripheral facial paralysis. He stated that the primary disorder was in the ganglion and compared it with the motor and sensory phenomena of Gasserian ganglion neuralgia. He outlined the anatomic area and called it the geniculate zone, a cone-shaped area including the drum membrane, the external auditory canal, the entrance to the canal, and the concha, tragus, antitragus, and antihelix. He stated that the 9th and 10th cranial nerves contribute to sensation in this area. Clark and Taylor, 2 in 1909, reported a case of tic douloureux involving the sensory portion of the seventh cranial nerve (nervus intermedius). His patient, a woman aged 28, had severe tic-like spasms of pain immediately in front of the left ear for two years and a steady pain deep in