Frey’s Syndrome
It is a neurological disorder resulting from damage to or near the parotid glands responsible for making saliva, and from damage to the facial nerve often from surgery .
The symptoms of Frey’s syndrome are redness and sweating on the cheek area adjacent to the ear. These symptoms generally appear when the affected person eats, sees, dreams, thinks about or talks about certain kinds of food which produce strong salivation. Observing sweating in the region after eating a lemon wedge may be diagnostic.
Symptoms
Redness (erythema)
Sweating in the cutaneous distribution of the auriculotemporal nerve usually in response to gustatory stimuli.
Sometimes it may be associated with pain in the same area, often of a burning ature. Between attacks of pain there is sometimes numbness or other altered sensations (anesthesia or paresthesia). This is sometimes termed "Gustatory Neuralgia".
Causes
It is generally due to the side effects of a surgery of or near parotid glands or may be due to injury to the auricotemporal nerve, which passes through the parotid gland. As a result of inappropriate regeneration, the parasympathetic nerve fibers may switch course, resulting in "Gustatory Sweating" or sweating in the anticipation of eating, instead of the normal salivatory response.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis can be done by the doctor based on symptoms.
Treatments
There is no effective treatment, but various options are described :
Injection of Botulinum Toxin A
Surgical transection of the nerve fibers (only a temporary treatment)
Application of an ointment containing an anticholinergic drug such as scopolamine
If the symtoms persists consult your doctor.
Complications
Complications of Frey's syndrome include hyperhidrosis. The excessive perspiration from ones skin. Symptoms include:
Sweating
Skin maceration
Fissuring
References:
WebMd
Paranoid.Net
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