My father is 89 years old and had suffered many years with the pain of TN. He had multiple treatments of gamma knife, radio frequency, glycerol and lots of drugs - all of which were only moderately effective. He has a fairly bad case of TN. It was excruciating to watch him suffer. He went to the "best" doctors in New York City for treatment but ultimately they were not able to meaningfully relieve his pain. He also went to pain management doctors in New York City who were similarly not able to provide him relief. As almost a throw away at the end of an appointment where my dad was pressing for any alternatives, one doctor mentioned a surgeon on Long Island who might be able to help him, but the doctor (who was supposedly an expert in this field) did not remember his name. After some research, we connected with this doctor on Long Island - he is a neurosurgeon who performs Percutaneous Balloon Compression. We were able to get my dad in fairly quickly (he was essentially unable to function due to pain) and he had the procedure done. The amazing thing about the procedure is that it is done on an outpatient basis (even thought he is 89 years old) and, unlike gamma knife, the relief is immediate. No waiting for the pain relief to kick in. And no pain from the procedure itself. It is incredible and to this day makes me quite angry that no expert recommended this procedure to my dad even thought he suffered for many years. The only downside is that he has some residual numbness on his face, but given the pain he was experiencing it is an easy trade off. Sometimes you have to repeat the procedure which my dad just did yesterday (he was starting to experience pangs of pain) and he is pain free today and back to his regular active life. I can't recommend this doctor and procedure enough. Here is his contact information: http://jeffreyabrownmd.com/trigeminal/balloon.html. I hope this post brings relief to other sufferers out there.