Unilateral Headache - causes of pain which only ever happens on the same side of the head.

However, a one-sided headache, which never moves, can suggest an underlying structural problem, not just simple migraine or tension-type headache.

Here's the list of causes of "side-locked headache" - pain only ever on one side of the head:

1. Cluster Headache
2. Paroxysmal Hemicrania
3. Hemicrania Continua
4. SUNCT
5. Trigeminal Neuralgia
6. Supraorbital Neuralgia
7. Occipital Neuralgia (more correctly called Cervicogenic Headache)
8. Temporal Arteritis
9. Carotid Dissection
10. Vertebral Dissection
11. Nervus Intermedius neuralgia (usually ear pain, not headache

If the diagnosis is migraine, then this is not going to be a major concern, the risk of an underlying structural problem in migraine is tiny, and you should be assured that one in 5 people with migraine have side-locked headache attacks.

If you do not have migraine and experience strictly one-sided headaches, a search for an underlying structural problem within the head, with CT Brain scan or MRI scan is indicated.

The regions of interest are the areas either side of the pituitary gland (the parasellar structures, like the cavernous sinus), and the hypothalamus and pituitary itself.

This is particularly true if your headache has reddening of the eye (conjunctival injection), eye watering (lacrimation), nasal blockage or eyelid drooping (ptosis) associated with it - the so called autonomic features.



Read about other Headache Locations here

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