Blog

Follow Agnes's courageous journey with trigeminal neuralgia, from a simple toothache to a life-changing diagnosis. Explore her journey through treatment options, culminating in a successful surgery at the Facial Pain Center at Pacific Neuroscience Institute® (PNI).

An estimated 39 million people on the US have some degree of facial pain including TMJ dysfunction and notoriously painful Trigeminal Neuralgia. Read about these painful syndromes and available medical and surgical treatment options.

Pacific Neuroscience Institute® (PNI®) celebrates significant healthcare milestones in 2024! Numerous esteemed PNI physicians were honored with Castle Connolly Top Doctor and Super Doctors awards, showcasing their dedication to clinical excellence and professional achievement.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s another scourge raging in the U.S: loneliness. About 17% of Americans reported feeling lonely “a lot of the day yesterday,” when polled by Gallup earlier this year, and a staggering 41% of single people said they did.

Tatiana Sarkisian lives with a brain tumor that causes pain like the very worst migraine. Van Nessa Manlunas had a sarcoma in her cheekbone and has had eight surgeries. Ben Stein-Lobovits suffered an inoperable brainstem glioma that is kept in check with a new drug. Do you have someone in your life who is coping with cancer?

When it comes to cancer, the focus is most often on the patient. But the best treatment happens when their care partners are cared for, too. The first step is knowing what it’s like to be the partner, son, daughter or friend of a cancer sufferer.

Dr. Amit Kochhar is an otolaryngologist. That means he specializes in surgery in the head and neck. Among the conditions that he treats is something called synkinesis: unintentional contractions of the face muscles. A patient’s eye may close when smiling.

Pacific Neuroscience Institute teams in Neurology and Neurosurgery contribute to High Performing Hospitals in US News & World Report rankings.

Pacific Neuroscience Institute's facial nerve expert, Dr. Amit Kochhar, Director of the Facial Nerve Disorders Program, explains how Ramsay Hunt Syndrome - a rare virus also known to cause chickenpox and shingles - recently led to the 28-year-old pop star Justin Bieber’s facial paralysis. 

This year, six of Pacific Neuroscience Institute’s physicians were included in Los Angeles Magazine’s April 2022 roster of “L.A.’s Top Doctors.”