Head pain.

Head pain can be a challenging, difficult, and interesting diagnostic problem. A detailed history and carefully performed and directed physical and laboratory examination will aid in the complex differential diagnosis--which includes structural disease of the eye, ear, nose, throat, teeth; trauma; central and peripheral nervous system infections and tumors; and various neuropathies of unknown cause. Systemic abnormalities such as hypertension are a frequent cause, as are emotional upset and tension. Other isolated and extremely rare causes, such as the anatomic abnormality of an elongated styloid process, cannot be discussed in a presentation of this length, but are included in the bibliography.