Superior laryngeal neuralgia
The superior laryngeal nerve, a branch of the vagus nerve, innervates the cricothyroid muscle of the larynx. This muscle stretches, tenses, and adducts the vocal cord. Superior laryngeal neuralgia usually appears as a postsurgical complication. There are paroxysms of unilateral submandibular pain, sometimes radiating to the eye, ear, or shoulder. This pain may be indistinguishable from GPN. It lasts from seconds to minutes and is usually provoked by swallowing, straining the voice, turning the head, coughing, sneezing, yawning, or blowing the nose.
