Painful Submandibular Hypertrophic Scar as a Presentation of Post-Traumatic Neuropathy: Case Report

Veronica Iturriaga; Carola Fuentealba; Jocelyn Bizama; Thomas Bornhardt; Hugo Landaeta & Nicol Velasquez

Summary

Painful hypertrophic scars (PHS) are benign fibrous overgrowths of scar tissue that manifest a subjective symptom with a pathophysiology poorly understood and an absence of a gold standard treatment, representing a challenging condition that can dramatically affect the patient’s quality of life. A 16-year-old patient present pain intensity of 10 on the visual analog scale secondary to a PHS in the submandibular region. Treatment was carried out through three sessions of peri and sublesional local infiltrative anesthetic combined with posterior corticosteroid infiltration. After 7 months the patient was discharged, resuming all daily activities and without recurrence of pain during one year of follow-up. PHS have characteristics of neuropathic pain and may resemble a post-traumatic trigeminal neuropathy. Considering the unique complexity of each case and the multiple options available for its management, this case exposes an effective, simple, and non-surgical treatment showing successful results.

KEY WORDS: facial pain, hypertrophic scar, painful hypertrophic scar, mandibular nerve injuries, cicatrix; case reports.

How to cite this article

ITURRIAGA, V.; FUENTEALBA, C.; BIZAMA, J.; BORNHARDT, T.; LANDAETA, H. & VELASQUEZ, N. Painful submandibular hypertrophic scar as a presentation of post-traumatic neuropathy: A case report. Int. J. Odontostomat., 18(3):311-316, 2024.