I had a balloon procedure in Jan 2008. I got a big hemotoma on my face at the end of the surgery, and I had pain around my eye after the procedure (my TN pain was around my jaw and lips). Because of that pain, I stayed on Tegretol for maybe 6-7 months before decreasing. (As my neurologist said, the Tegretol helps with all nerve pain, not just Trigeminal pain.)

The good news is that the eye pain went away. There's a slight sensitivity around the eye now, but no pain.

The bad news was that I was only off the Tegretol was a week or two and the TN started again. HOWEVER, I didn't need as much medication as I'd needed before for the first 6 months.

Jean