As we stand on the threshold of a new year, I want to take a moment to reflect on the strength of the facial pain community. You offer one another kindness and support and your resilience is inspiring.
The Facial Pain Association is here to supplement what you as a community do for one another. We are here to meet you wherever you are on your journey with educational resources, opportunities for support, and to help you advocate for yourselves and each other.
I am excited as I look ahead to 2024. You will read about many of our plans in the upcoming issue of the Quarterly, which will be delivered later this month, and you will see that we are dedicated to fulfilling our mission of serving everyone who lives with neuropathic facial pain.
- The 2024 FPA Virtual Conference is set for April 27 and 28, 2024 and will feature experts on topics of interest to the community. It will once again be virtual, allowing access for everyone, regardless of location, travel restrictions, finances, and health issues.
- We will launch our patient registry this year, an effort that has been in the planning stages for many years. This will be an opportunity for you to affect research and future outcomes through shared information and experience.
- We will continue to work with dental professionals to increase their knowledge of trigeminal neuralgia and other forms of neuropathic facial pain through our Dentist Initiative. We will launch a Neurologist Initiative and work with facial pain experts to help the greater medical community stay up to date on current and emerging treatment options, informing them of the work being done by multidisciplinary teams to treat facial pain. Finally, we will work with researchers to bring you the most updated information on available studies.
- Our efforts to reach everyone living with facial pain will continue with improvements to our website and specialized programs designed to go beyond the community we currently touch to traditionally underserved communities with limited access to resources. We are also translating existing resources into other languages to serve those around the world.
We could not do any of this without you. Members of the facial pain community are volunteers, donors, medical partners, family, friends, and most importantly, those living with facial pain. You all impact our efforts, and we are grateful for your contributions. I wish you a happy and healthy 2024 and I look forward to facing this year together.
