International Day of Disabled People: trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain must finally be seen
International Day of Disabled People and the pain no one sees
International Day of Disabled People should be a moment of visibility. On 3 December each year, the United Nations and countries around the world mark the day and talk about equality, rights and inclusion for more than one billion disabled people.
The 2025 theme is “Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress”. It asks governments, employers and communities to remove barriers and treat disabled people with dignity. Yet one group still slips through the net. Very few speeches or social media posts mention people who are afraid to eat, speak or feel a breeze on their face because of severe electric-shock pain. That group includes people with trigeminal neuralgia and related facial pain.
A hidden disability: trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain
Trigeminal neuralgia affects the fifth cranial nerve. It causes brief, sudden, shock-like attacks of pain in one or more areas of the face. Brushing your teeth, sipping cold water or stepping into the wind can trigger an episode. Many people describe freezing mid-sentence or dropping whatever they are holding.
Large studies estimate that between 4 and 13 people per 100,000 develop trigeminal neuralgia each year. Women are more often affected than men. Most people first notice symptoms after the age of fifty.
The figures look small on paper. In an ageing population, they still mean tens of thousands of people living with:
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Food is avoided because chewing triggers pain
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Jobs lost because meetings and calls are unbearable
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Journeys are cancelled because a cold wind across the face sparks an attack
Clinicians often describe trigeminal neuralgia as one of the worst pains known to medicine. Research links it to high rates of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. That mix of physical agony and fear is what trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain disability looks like in everyday life.
Why the International Day of Disabled People must include hidden pain
The International Day of Disabled People grows out of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. That convention says disability arises when an impairment meets barriers in society – prejudice, inaccessible services, poor policy.
Trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain fit that model. Someone may walk, see and hear without any aid, yet still face disabling barriers when:
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employers do not understand why they need flexibility or quieter roles
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benefits assessors ignore fluctuating pain and exhaustion
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health services split neurology, dentistry and mental health into separate systems
If the International Day of Disabled People is serious about inclusion, it has to cover hidden pain, not just visible mobility issues.
2025: new science for trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain
While services move slowly, science is moving faster. In 2025 several developments changed how experts think about trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain.
Fast-acting rescue treatment
For many years, people in acute trigeminal neuralgia crises had few proven options beyond high-dose tablets, nerve blocks or emergency procedures. New evidence now supports another route.
The IFT Study, a phase III trial presented as late-breaking science at the American Academy of Neurology, tested intravenous fosphenytoin in hospital. Patients who received fosphenytoin during severe flares saw much greater and faster drops in pain scores than those given placebo. Researchers reported that this treatment can sharply reduce or even stop pain in many people and bridge the gap until planned surgery, such as microvascular decompression, takes place.
For emergency departments and pain teams, fosphenytoin offers a serious rescue tool. For patients, it offers the hope that the worst attacks might finally calm without rushing straight to major surgery.
Regenerative approaches with platelet-rich plasma
Standard first-line drugs for trigeminal neuralgia, such as carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine, came from epilepsy medicine. They can dampen attacks but often cause dizziness, drowsiness and blood problems. Many people feel drug-gedged and unsafe to drive or work.
Researchers are now testing platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, as an additional option. In 2025, a follow-up study and related protocols reported that ultrasound-guided PRP injections around affected facial nerves reduced neuropathic pain and improved quality of life in people with idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia and infraorbital neuralgia. A mini-review of nerve conditions supports the idea that PRP, which contains growth factors from the patient’s own blood, may help repair nerves and reduce inflammation.
PRP remains experimental and sits outside routine NHS care. Even so, it signals a shift towards treatments that aim to heal nerves rather than simply blunt signals, which matters for long-term disability.
A new radiofrequency system for facial pain
Radiofrequency lesioning of the trigeminal nerve has long been an option when medicines fail. It uses heat to create very small lesions that interrupt pain pathways. In August 2025 NeuroOne received US Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance for the OneRF Trigeminal Nerve Ablation System, specifically for facial pain linked to the trigeminal nerve.
The company reports that the system can shorten procedures and improve precision by delivering controlled radiofrequency energy through a dedicated electrode. It does not offer a cure and carries the usual risks of nerve lesioning, yet it shows that industry and regulators now treat trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain as serious conditions that deserve tailored technology.
A global face for a hidden condition
Facts matter. Stories move people. In 2025, Bollywood actor Salman Khan gave trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain an unmistakable public face.
In interviews and on television he described years of electric-shock pain, said he would not wish it on his worst enemy, and explained how breakfast could take ninety minutes because every bite hurt. He also spoke about the eight-hour procedure he underwent and about continuing to work while living with trigeminal neuralgia and a brain aneurysm.
When a star with tens of millions of followers talks like this, it becomes much harder for health systems, employers and policymakers to claim that trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain are rare or minor. His words echo thousands of quieter stories gathered by charities and support groups in the UK and worldwide.
What must change after the International Day of Disabled People
International Day of Disabled People cannot stop at hashtags and speeches. For people with trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain, three changes would make a real difference.
Recognise trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain as disabilities
Benefits systems, clinical guidelines and workplace policies need to catch up with reality. Severe facial pain is disabling even when there is no wheelchair or white cane. Assessments for Personal Independence Payment and similar benefits should consider chewing, speaking, travel, sleep, medication side-effects and mental health, not just mobility. Occupational health teams should recognise that long meetings, constant speaking and exposure to cold air can be impossible.
Invest in research, data and training
New options such as fosphenytoin rescue therapy, PRP and radiofrequency systems will only change lives if they come with robust trials, fair access and good clinician education. Commissioners should name trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain in neurology, pain and mental health strategies. Dentists, GPs and emergency doctors need training so that they think “could this be trigeminal neuralgia?” before removing healthy teeth or labelling people as anxious.
Put people with facial pain at the centre
Charities and support groups already collect strong evidence through surveys and helplines. These accounts describe delayed diagnoses, unsafe dental care, job loss, family strain and suicidal thoughts. Policymakers and professional bodies should use that evidence alongside clinical trials when they design services and write disability strategies.
International Day of Disabled People as a test
International Day of Disabled People often celebrates strength and resilience. It should also test whether inclusion is real.
If a supposedly inclusive society cannot make space for people whose disability is a calm-looking face hiding electric-shock pain, then it has work to do. The 2025 theme talks about building disability-inclusive societies that drive social progress. That promise will only mean something when hidden conditions like trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain sit clearly within disability law, policy and culture.
Media outlets can help by treating trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain as serious disability issues. Policymakers can help by naming these conditions in strategies. Health services can help by joining up neurology, dentistry and mental health so that people are not left to fight alone.
Until that happens, the International Day of Disabled People remains a starting point, not a finish line, for everyone living with trigeminal neuralgia and facial pain.