Trigeminal neuralgia: typical or atypical?

The horrible disorder of trigeminal neuralgia has been reviewed in the medical literature for centuries. Various methods of diagnosis and treatment have been offered and yet, it has only been in the last few decades that two similar but different types of trigeminal neuralgias have been recognized. Typical trigeminal neuralgia, or tic douloureux, is by far the most recognized type, although atypical trigeminal neuralgia has recently appeared in the literature as well. It is of the utmost importance that these two neuralgias of the trigeminal nerve be accurately diagnosed as their forms of treatment are quite different. This short treatise will compare and contrast the two different types of trigeminal neuralgias, typical and atypical, and offer methods for treatment of both.