Treatment of Facial Neuralgia Developed after Inferior Meatal Antrostomy by Narrowing of the Inlet with Endoscopic Cartilage Graft

Inferior meatal antrostomy (IMA) is a widely performed surgical technique to treat postoperative maxillary mucocele. The methodis safe and easy to perform, without major complications compared with other approaches. Facial pain after IMA is a rareclinical entity that can be challenging to diagnose and treat. The authors present an unusual case of acute facial neuralgia triggeredby cold air that developed after IMA. The antrostomy was located at the anterior-most part of the inferior meatus, and theinlet size was relatively large compared with the size of the remaining sinus. Surgical narrowing of the antrostomy inlet usingendoscopy dramatically reduced the symptoms, and symptom relief was maintained for up to one year after surgery. KCI Citation Count: 0