A comparison between the right side and the left side of head skin in a patient who received more than 450 sessions of left stellate ganglion block: A case report

ABSTRACT

Stellate ganglion block (SGB) is an effective method that is used by pain clinicians to treat patients who have pain in the head, neck and arm area. SGB acts mainly by increasing regional blood flow via peripheral vasodilation and decreasing pain sensation by reducing the afferent sensory signals of the sympathetic nervous system in the region. This patient had received more than 450 sessions of left SGB continually for the past 6 years to relieve her left-sided facial pain caused by facial trauma. Out of our curiosity, we tried to obtain some objective dermatological measurements like skin elasticity, water content, and hair follicle density on her scalp and we found that the values were different between the left side of her face and the right side of her face. Here, we report the results and we want pain clinicians to know that repeated SGBs may improve skin elasticity, water content in the skin, and increase the number of hair follicles on the scalp.