Stanford Headache and Facial Pain Program

Overview

Headache affects one in four Americans and costs our economy more than 30 billion dollars a year, not to mention countless hours lost to family and quality of life. The Stanford Headache and Facial Pain Program is dedicated to finding the best diagnosis and treatment for patients suffering from debilitating headaches.

Patient Care

Our approach is multidisciplinary, drawing on the considerable resources of the Stanford faculty, ranging from state of the art imaging to integrative medicine. Our team includes internationally renowned, board-certified headache specialists, as well as psychologists, physical therapists, neurosurgeons, interventional pain and maxillo-facial pain specialists. We are also the home to one of the few CSF leak centers in the country. We offer both in-patient and out-patient services as well as out-patient infusion centers for our patients.

Appointments in the headache clinic are by referral only from a treating physician and the program provides primarily consultative services. We do not use opioids in our program and most treatment plans consist of both medication and lifestyle management, often including behavioral and physical therapy, as evidence and experience have shown this combination to result in the best outcomes for our patients.

Research

Our translational research program focuses mainly on the translational aspects of chronification in migraine. We have three active groups, each focusing on a different approach: functional imaging, deep phenotyping,and proteomics. Other active areas of research by faculty include CSF homeostasis and regulation, use of machine learning in headache diagnosis and management, and post-graduate education in headache medicine.

We are actively involved in clinical trials of the latest treatments for migraine, cluster, trigeminal neuralgia and other disabling headache. In addition to our very active clinical programs, we have a UCNS-accredited fellowship for advanced training of headache specialists and active basic and translational research projects in which many patients choose to participate.

Headache and Facial Pain Patient Care

Stanford Health Care’s Headache and Facial Pain Clinic provides expert diagnosis and comprehensive treatment for headaches and facial pain.