An unusual case of sympathetically maintained facial pain complicated by telangiectasia

A 32-year-old woman with a history of maxillary sinusitis, multiple surgical interventions in the maxillary sinus, and a hyperalgesic, erythematous skin lesion in her left infraorbital area, had severe burning pain in the left face. The dermal lesion was diagnosed as atypical telangiectasia and the sinus pathoses determined to be unrelated to her symptoms. Two diagnostic stellate ganglion blocks were performed with concurrent bilateral monitoring of blood flow in the infraorbital skin. Blood flow was significantly increased in the painful erythematous patch although no significant change in flow occurred in the unaffected contralateral skin. The changes correlated to patient's relief from pain. The patient's symptoms were subsequently controlled with an oral sympatholytic agent. This article demonstrates the usefulness of laser doppler flowmetry to establish the diagnosis of sympathetically maintained facial pain despite several confounding conditions and supports the theory that sympathetically maintained pain involves altered function of alpha-1 adrenoreceptors.