If doctors clearly determine the cause of the disorder to be compression of an artery on the trigeminal nerve deep in your skull, a neurosurgeon can perform a microvascular decompression.

• The surgeon moves the compressing artery to a location away from the compressed root of the nerve.
• The major disadvantage is that it requires a neurosurgical operation—with all its complications—to get access to the root of the trigeminal nerve.