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SUNCT syndrome

SUNCT is an acronym for Short-lasting, Unilateral Neuralgiform Pain with Conjunctival injection and Tearing .

The pain typically occurs as repetitive paroxysms of unilateral moderate to severe pain in the ocular and periocular area lasting 1-2 minutes in duration.

Pain can spread to the upper jaw, the roof of the mouth or the front of the temporal areas of the head.

Interestingly, the pain strikes only during the daytime and is described as steady and nonthrobbing.

The pain is associated with ipsilateral conjunctival injection, nasal congestion, rhinorrhea, forehead sweating and lacrimation.

The conjunctival injection and lacrimation can have a volatile characteristic during severe attacks, coming on suddenly and severely.

This syndrome almost always strikes men of middle to old age

TREATMENT

Although indomethacin and carbamazepine have been used much, there is no evidence that either help. Corticosteroids may be beneficial, but are untested. There has been no clearly effective therapy, and successful treatment has been anecdotal.

Merskey H and Bogduk, Eds. Relatively localized syndromes of the head and neck. pp. 59-68, in Classification of Chronic Pain, 2nd Edition. IASP Press, Seattle, 1994
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