Definition
The temples are located on both sides of the head to the side of the eyes. Complaints in this area are also called temple pain and can be caused by many different diseases like certain headaches or eye diseases. Pain in the temporal region is very common because this area is very sensitive. If the pain in the temporal region occurs without a recognizable cause, it is called primary temporal pain. If they are caused by other diseases, they are called secondary temporal pain.
Causes
Pain in the temples can occur for many different reasons. They can originate from various organs on the head or be of a different nature. Among other things, the pain is caused by injuries that are associated with accidents or the use of violence.
Accidents or external violence such as blows can cause bruises and fractures in the area of the face. The temporal or zygomatic bone, which is located below the eye and marks the bottom of the eye socket, is particularly susceptible to fractures. Fractures can be very painful and the pain can then radiate into the respective temple and also cause headaches.
Fractures are usually detected by an imaging procedure such as conventional x-rays. Other causes are related to headaches. In addition to migraine, there are many different types of headache, which often have a very typical painful character.
Migraine is a sudden and sudden headache that can be preceded by a warning, a so-called aura. The migraine attacks manifest themselves in very different ways in patients. Some patients generally have very severe headaches, which can also be accompanied by nausea and vomiting.
In others, the migraine headache occurs only at a specific location or even moves from the front of the head to the back of the head. It is also possible that only one side is affected by the pain and the temples hurt. Temporal pain can be bilateral or even unilateral, depending on the cause.
Patients who suffer from migraine attacks may experience signs such as an aura shortly before the attacks. A flickering light appears in one eye. Shortly afterwards, the headaches begin.
The pain can be limited to one side, left or right, during the seizures. In addition to migraine, there is also the widespread tension and cluster headache. The tension headache is often caused by stress and overwork.
It mainly occurs as pain distributed over the entire head, but can trigger typical stabbing pain in the temples. Cluster headaches are particularly frequent and occur only on one side. In this form of headache, severe unilateral pain attacks occur in the area of the temples and the eyes.
They begin suddenly and can last up to three hours. It is not uncommon for patients who do not seek treatment for cluster headache to have up to several attacks of pain a day. In addition to certain foods, these piercing unilateral headaches can also be triggered by a dysregulation of the structures that are also responsible for the sleep/wake rhythm.
Diseases of the eye can also trigger pain in the temples. Direct diseases of the eye such as inflammation, which even affects the optic nerve, can cause such pain that it radiates into the temples. Often, an untreated defective vision of the eye can also cause a burning sensation in the eyes and pain in the temples.
Due to the enormous overstrain of the eye, it tires faster and sharp vision becomes increasingly difficult. Especially people who sit in front of computer screens for long periods of time are familiar with the increasingly sluggish view of the screen. Not infrequently, these patients also suffer more frequently than others from headaches involving the temporal region.
Furthermore, injuries such as fractures around the eye can also cause pain in the temples. In some types of headache, such as cluster headache, the pain spreads hemiplegically across the temple and eye. The pain attacks are accompanied by pain around the eye.
In addition, red and watery eyes appear and sometimes even the eyelid can hang down. Cluster headaches require good treatment because otherwise the attacks are more frequent and can occur several times a day.Pain in the temples can also be caused by diseases of the jaw. Tension and stress also affects many people with overexerted jaw muscles.
On the one hand, this can lead to jaw pain, and on the other hand, the muscles can be so strained that a kind of muscle ache develops. The pain can then spread to the temples and also cause headaches. Temple pain can also be caused by a malfunction of the temporomandibular joint.
This condition is called Costen syndrome. It is a muscular malposition and malfunction in the jaw area. In addition to sounds in the temporomandibular joint during movement, patients experience pain radiating to the temples, the eye sockets and the forehead.
In addition to the eye and the nose, the ear is another sensitive sensory organ on the head. Diseases such as inflammation affecting the middle or inner ear can occur particularly frequently in childhood when bacteria enter the ear canal. The typical ear pain is very unpleasant and of a permanent stinging character.
If the inflammation spreads to the bones behind the ear, the medical term is mastoiditis. The pain of an ear infection and mastoiditis can also lead to headaches and pain in the temples beyond the ear. Pain in the temporal region is often also secondary to diseases of the teeth.
Patients who grind their teeth frequently at night, clenching and tightening their jaws firmly, may wake up the next morning with headaches and pain in the temples. The teeth grinding moves and strains the jaw, but also the facial muscles, which can also cause sore muscles, which then manifests itself as pain in the temples. Furthermore, inflammations, caries and malpositioned teeth can also be the cause of the complaints.
Inflammations near the nerves can quickly affect the entire head and cause pain. These then radiate into other regions. Similarly, caries and massive malpositioning of teeth can lead to irritation of certain facial nerves such as the trigeminal nerve.
This can result in a permanently dull pain, which can also increase when the jaw is moved or when nerves damaged by irritation are affected. Arteritis temporalis (inflammation of the temporal arteries), also known as giant cell arteritis or formerly known as Horton’s disease, is an autoimmune disease associated with inflammation of the middle and large vessels. It occurs without any known cause.
It is usually a giant cell, granulomatous, necrotizing vasculitis (vasculitis). Temporal arteritis is the most common vascular inflammation in adulthood. The disease can affect various vessels, but often affects the temporal artery, an arterial vessel in the region of the temple.
The main symptom of temporal arteritis is pulse-synchronous, piercing pain at the temple. The temporal artery is also very painful under pressure. This means that touching the region of the temple is particularly painful for those affected.
In addition to pain at the temple, pain can also occur when chewing. If the ocular vessels are also affected, vision problems, loss of visual field and sudden, temporary blindness (amaurosis fugax) may occur. Sinusitis, an inflammation of the paranasal sinuses, is a common cold that usually begins with a common cold.
In the course of the inflammation of the paranasal sinuses, pain often develops in the face and head. The pain can affect the temples and can be stabbing, piercing, pressing or pulsating. The doctor can quickly examine and diagnose a sinusitis, for example by means of a rhinoscopy and, if bacterial infection is present, treat it with an effective antibiotic.
