Hello,

Thanks for your query. It will be very helpful for me in understanding your condition better if you could answer some of these questions:

1)     Is there any ear pain or redness or swelling of the area?
2)     Are there any blisters in that area and did you suffer from chicken pox earlier?
3)     Do you have any scalp tenderness as well?

From the symptoms that you have described, two important possibilities are of mastoiditis and temporal arteritis. Mastoiditis is an infection of mastoid process or the bone behind the ear. Symptoms of mastoiditis include pain, tenderness, and swelling in the mastoid region. Temporal arteritis is an inflammation of vasculitis of blood vessels of the large and medium arteries of the head especially the temporal artery tat branch off from the carotid artery in the neck.

You may need certain investigations like blood tests especially ESR and C reactive protein, a CT scan and MRI SCAN. If temporal arteritis is suspected then a biopsy of the vessel may need to be done for confirming the diagnosis.
I suggest you to consult an ENT specialist and if temporal arteritis is diagnosed then you may need to be referred to a vascular surgeon.

Hope this answers your query. Please do get back with these answers so that we can help you in a better way. I am available for further follow ups. Wishing you good health.

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Hello,
The symptoms which you have described are typically seen in temporal arteritis. However, I must mention that this is a disease which is more commonly seen in the old age. I'll suggest doing an ESR and CRP.

If these are normal, then temporal arteritis is virtually ruled out. Another possibility is that it is a neurological pain like trigeminal neuralgia.

A CT scan or an MRI of the brain is recommended to rule out the causes of the same like a tumor, infection etc.

Please consult a neurologist for the same. Hope this answers your query. If you have additional questions then please do post us. Wishing you good health.

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