There is a phenomenon caused Sluder's Neuralgia whereby a patient may suffer fairly severe pain over the cheek and around the eye due to a severedeviated septum... not just any deviated septum, but a sub-type called a septal spur.
As an introduction, a nasal septum is a wall that divides the nasal cavity down the middle. This nasal wall is much larger than people realize... perhaps a little bigger than a large man's watch.
In some individuals, the septum (purple arrow) may be deviated to one side causing narrowing resulting in symptoms of nasal obstruction.
In a further subset of individuals, the septum may be even more deviated with a "spur" digging into the side of the nasal cavity as shown by the black arrowhead below.
In this scenario, the patient will feel pain in the cheek and eye region on the same side as the septal spur. If nasal swelling occurs, the pain will become more severe. Such swelling may occur from allergies or a viral infection. As such, the pain fluctuates depending on how much mucosal swelling is present.
This situation is analogous to a bunion on the foot. Just like the septal spur, if the bunion digs too hard into a shoe, a person may feel foot pain. If the foot swells due to standing or edema, the pain may become more severe.
Shown below is a septal spur before and after mucosal lining swelling has occurred.
Treatment is a surgical procedure called septoplasty which basically removes the spur and straightens the septum back to the midline.
The Doctors TV show actually produced a great (and accurate) segment on a relatively new procedure called sialendoscopy. This procedure allows a surgeon to remove a stone that may be blocking your spit gland from draining saliva into the mouth. This is analogous to a kidney stone which blocks urine from draining from the kidney into the bladder resulting in painful swelling of the kidney (causing flank pain).
How does a person know if they have a salivary gland blockage due to a stone? There is a painful swelling located right in front and/or below the ear if the parotid gland is affected, or under the jawbone if the submandibular gland is blocked.
If the blockage persists long enough, it may lead to an infection of the gland itself (sialadenitis).
Traditionally, if the stone doesn't pass on its own with conservative measures, stone removal required surgical removal of the entire gland or making an incision and removing the stone like it's a tumor mass.
Watch the video of this procedure being performed as shown on The Doctors here.
At this time, the only local surgeon I am aware of who offers this unique procedure in the mid-Atlantic region is Dr. Arjun Joshi.
Dr. Arjun Joshi (George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC) 2021 K St NW, Ste 206 Washington, DC 20006 Office Number: 202-741-3250 www.dcheadandneck.com