title: [Benign neuropathy of the chin].
abstract: A 49-year old man without relevant prior neurological disorder but with overweight, dyslipidaemia and mild glucose dysregulation, noticed on awakening a spontaneous, left-sided and painless numb chin, attributed to isolated mental neuropathy, which regressed entirely within a few weeks. The clinical condition was stable at 1-year follow-up. Ancillary investigations (including electromyography) did not disclose any cause to this episode, notably there was no underlying malignancy or systemic disease. A thorough literature review revealed another similar case which too remained unexplained. The hypothesis of a microvascular neuropathy in relation to vascular risk factors is cautiously raised; such a mechanism has been inferred previously in exceptional cases of regressive mental neuropathy in the context of sickle-cell crisis or systemic vasculitis. Thus, at variance with classical notions, the outlook of the numb chin syndrome is occasionally benign.
mesh_terms: D002680:Chin / Q000294:innervation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous
vernacular_title: Neuropathie mentonnière bénigne.