Unilateral Gustatory Flushing: A Variant of Frey’s Syndrome?

R N Matin, B Esdaile, A de

Abstract

We report two cases of unilateral gustatory flushing presenting in infancy. This is considered to be a variant of Frey’s syndrome, whereby in children, aberrant sweating is often absent. It occurs as a result of damage, either following perinatal birth trauma or infection. Misdirected regeneration of the parasympathetic fibres of the auriculotemporal nerve results in localised erythema occurring in a fixed distribution. In children, this condition is harmless, spontaneous resolution has been reported and no treatment is required. However, more recently botulinum toxin injections have been proposed for adolescents in whom this may be socially distressing.