Face Pain

Face pain may be dull and throbbing or an intense, stabbing discomfort in the face or forehead. It can occur in one or both sides.

Causes

Pain that starts in the face may be caused by a nerve problem, injury, or infection. Face pain may also begin in other places in the body.

• Abscessed tooth (ongoing throbbing pain on one side of the lower face that gets worse with eating or touching)
• Cluster headache
• Herpes zoster (shingles) or herpes simplex (cold sores) infection
• Injury to the face
• Migraine
• Myofascial pain syndrome
• Sinusitis or sinus infection (dull pain and tenderness around the eyes and cheekbones that gets worse when you bend forward)
• Tic douloureux
• Temporomandibular joint dysfunction syndrome

Sometimes the reason for the face pain is unknown.