About 35 years ago, Claire Patterson, working with Dr. Peter Janetta, the pioneer of microvascular decompression surgery, created what is now called the Facial Pain Association. Over the years, the organization has served thousands of people with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and other forms of neuropathic facial pain by providing information — about medications, surgical procedures, complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) including acupuncture and medical marijuana, connections with medical professionals, and support.

The FPA has been a godsend for many of us.

Today’s FPA is working hard to significantly build on everything that has been created over the past 35 years. I’m sure that you’ve noticed some of the changes but let me recap the expansion which is occurring in four main areas.

Information: On top of the vital information that our Medical Advisory Board provides, helping us improve and expand in the areas of medications, procedures and CAM, they are also focused on valuable information related to the psychological impact of living with severe chronic pain, as well as advice on how to live your best life possible with the pain. This expansion comes from the realization that although many of us can get great pain relief, others in our community aren’t so fortunate, and effectively managing the situation is a high priority.

Healthcare Providers: Historically, the FPA has been highly focused on those of us with TN and other forms of neuropathic facial pain. That continues to make all the sense in the world. However, we’ve recently realized that healthcare providers who interact with our community need to become even better at helping us. We are in our third year of making sure dentists consider that their patient might have TN or other neuropathic facial pain before doing root canals, tooth extractions, etc. And we just embarked on an effort to ensure neurologists are aware of all the tools in the toolbox to help us, such as expanding their understanding of relevant medicines, the effectiveness of various surgical procedures, and CAM.

Reach: We are confident that we are significantly helping those with whom we have contact. But we are tormented that there are many others who we don’t reach. So, we’ve embarked on programs to reach those in underserved markets, such as those who live in rural areas and inner cities. We’ve ramped up our internet presence. And we recently created a program to help those in other countries create their own FPA-like organizations.

Advocacy: The organization has started to work with organizations like the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy (AHDA) and the Coalition of Headache and Migraine Patients (CHAMP) to elevate the awareness of TN and other neuropathic facial pain, and increase resources devoted to creating more medical solutions for our community.

I hope that you are comforted in knowing that our staff, Board of Directors, Emeritus Board, Medical Advisory Board, and well over 100 trained volunteers are working hard to make things better for you, and we will continue to do so.