5 Years of Intense Face Pain After Shingles: How Nerve Surgery with Dr. Aguila Saved Gretchen
Gretchen lived in agony for nearly 5 years after a severe case of shingles left her with Postherpetic Neuralgia (PHN). Her face constantly burned, itched, and felt raw, especially around her eye, nose, and chin. Even after a misdiagnosed root canal and multiple failed treatments, nothing eased her pain.
That’s when she found Dr. Demetrio Aguila, a renowned pain-focused peripheral nerve surgeon specializing in treating Postherpetic Neuralgia patients.
Dr. Aguila performed a complex surgery to disconnect multiple nerves responsible for Gretchen’s pain, including the supratrochlear, supraorbital, infratrochlear, lateral nasal branch of the anterior ethmoid nerve, and infraorbital nerve. Each nerve was carefully implanted into the muscle to prevent future pain flare-ups.
Today, Gretchen is finally free from the burning, relentless facial pain that once controlled her life.
➡️ Watch her powerful story and discover how this rare but life-changing surgery gives hope to PHN patients worldwide.
Only a handful of surgeons globally perform this kind of targeted nerve surgery—Dr. Aguila is leading the way.
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My name is Gretchen Miller Carpenter. I'm from Marysville, Washington. I came to this clinic like so many other patients suffering from post-herpetic neuralgia on my face.
When I developed shingles, I was out running with my husband and suddenly felt an itch by the side of my nose. I thought, "What is this?" Then my tooth started to hurt, so I went to the dentist. He couldn’t find anything wrong, but we decided to do a root canal just in case. Soon after, my face swelled up and I broke out in sores. I was misdiagnosed at the hospital and ended up having a terrible case of shingles. The sores eventually healed, but the pain never went away.
It’s now been almost five years, and the pain has been constant. It felt like my face was burning, as if someone were scrubbing it with a Brillo pad. The pain came with itching and was concentrated all around my eye, up into my hairline, and down to my chin.
The nerves involved included the supratrochlear nerve, supraorbital nerve, infratrochlear nerve, lateral nasal branch of the anterior ethmoid nerve, and the infraorbital nerve. That’s a lot of nerves to deal with.
We made an incision starting at the side of my nose, going all the way down along the inside of my nose, and across my cheek. The surgeon had to carefully peel back part of my face to access the infraorbital nerve and dissect out the branches of the lateral nasal nerve. It was delicate and complex work.
I'll probably remain numb in some areas—but numbness is better than the pain I had before. I already know it’s an improvement. I’m doing significantly better now. From the surgeon’s perspective, it was a very satisfying operation. They were able to clearly identify and target the nerves responsible for my pain. Once they found them, they disconnected those nerves and implanted them into surrounding muscle tissue to help prevent the pain from returning in the future.
We’re excited to share this with everyone because it represents real progress. There may be no more than half a dozen surgeons in the world currently performing this kind of operation to treat post-herpetic neuralgia. It’s exciting to be part of advancing these techniques and generating interest among other physicians and surgeons. Hopefully, more doctors will learn how to perform these operations and help patients like me who have been suffering for years.