Nerve Decompression to Relieve Occipital Neuralgia

From migraine attacks to tension headaches, there are many different roads to head pain — more than 150, to put some numbers to it — but few are as painful as occipital neuralgia. Often described as zapping, shooting, and throbbing, the discomfort associated with this nerve compression issue can make life fairly miserable, and you want solutions.

As a board-certified neurosurgeon, Dr. Aizik L. Wolf is well-versed in a particularly effective surgical technique for relieving occipital neuralgia pain, which we offer here at Miami Neuroscience Center. 

By effective, we mean this nerve decompression surgery has improved occipital neuralgia pain by at least 50% in 91% of patients, with 45% reporting full remission.

The issue behind occipital neuralgia

It’s helpful to take a step back to review what we’re up against to understand why nerve decompression surgery is so effective at relieving occipital neuralgia symptoms.

Your occipital nerves originate from nerves that exit your spine between the C2 and C3 vertebrae in your neck. Like most spinal nerves, your occipital nerves come in a pair, and each travels to either side of your head to innervate your scalp at the back of your head. These nerves travel as far as your ears but don’t reach your face.

When you have occipital neuralgia, something is pressing on one of the nerves, leading to symptoms on one side of your head. This compression can occur in your neck and anywhere else along the length of the nerve.

As for what’s compressing your occipital nerve, there are many potential culprits, including:

• An injury to your head
• Arthritis in your neck
• Cervical disc disease
• Tumors
• Inflammation in your blood vessels
• Muscle tension or strain
• Diabetes

Whatever is behind the compression in your occipital nerve leaves it inflamed, overactive, and painful.

Surgically decompressing your occipital nerve

If you’ve tried conservative techniques to no avail, it might be time to explore a minimally invasive surgical solution in which Dr. Wolf frees up your occipital nerve.

While Dr. Wolf performs this surgery around your head and neck, it’s not brain surgery. In fact, he’s often able to perform an occipital nerve decompression on an outpatient basis, which means you can return home the same day. He uses general anesthesia, so it’s important to have someone drive you home, and you should plan to rest for a few days afterward.

It’s also worth noting that Dr. Wolf uses the most minimally invasive approach, sparing as much of the surrounding tissues and muscles as possible and only addressing the areas responsible for the nerve compression.

As we stated earlier, addressing occipital neuralgia surgically garners great success rates and allows patients to get on with their lives without debilitating head pain.

If you have more questions about decompression surgery for occipital neuralgia, we invite you to contact our office in South Miami, Florida, to schedule a consultation.