The Role of Facial Expression Analysis and Electrodermal Activity as an Objective Evaluation of Persistent Idiopathic Facial Pain

Persistent idiopathic facial pain (PIFP) is an enigmatic condition presenting with variable features. Psychiatric comorbidities are speculated to influence PIFP. In this study, the authors evaluated patients with PIFP through the hospital anxiety and depression scale, facial expression analysis, and electrodermal activity. A total of 67 respondents enrolled as the experimental group and 28 participants as the control group. Pain scores were higher in the experimental group (5.24; SD 2.349) P < 0.001 depression (5.58 (SD 3.766) versus 3.07 (SD 2.418), P = 0.002) and anxiety scores (9.78 (SD 4.923) versus 6.75 (SD 4.097) P = 0.007) were higher in the experimental group. The experimental group expressed more negative episodes (P = 0.024); Electrodermal Activity data in terms of peaks/min (P = 0.872) and average peak amplitude (P = 0.168) were not significantly different between the groups. It may be concluded that pain levels may be influenced by psychiatric comorbidity as PIFP patients showed insignificant physiological response to pain.