{"id":4135,"date":"2022-05-03T11:47:20","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T10:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/guidelines\/meralgiaparaesthetica\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T11:13:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T10:13:33","slug":"meralgiaparaesthetica","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/guidelines\/neurology\/nerveentrapmentsyndromes\/meralgiaparaesthetica\/","title":{"rendered":"Meralgia Paraesthetica"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:19% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/files\/sites\/2\/MERALGIA-PARAESTHETICA.png\" alt=\"Meralgia Paraesthetica\" class=\"wp-image-841 size-full\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>Meralgia Paraesthetica is the medical term for a benign condition where there is a painful patch of numbness on the side of the thigh. The picture below shows the area normally affected although this can vary from person to person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>image courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group LTD<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>M.A. &amp; R.D. 19-08-25<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs\" data-active-tab=\"0\"><ul class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-links\"><\/ul>\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Referral Guidelines<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p>Meralgia Paraesthetica is the medical term for a benign condition where there is a painful patch of numbness on the side of the thigh. The picture below shows the area normally affected although this can vary from person to person:<br>Meralgia Paraesthetica is a common problem due to a trapped nerve called the lateral cutaneous nerve of thigh. It usually gets trapped in the groin.<br>\u2022 Patients with meralgia paraesthetica normally notice a painful patch of numbness on their lateral thigh which they can draw around with their finger. They may feel pins and needles in this area. It can be very uncomfortable<br>\u2022 Meralgia paraesthetica does not cause any other symptoms in the legs<br>\u2022 The commonest cause is recent weight gain or pregnancy.<br>\u2022 The diagnosis is made solely on the typical story and the location of the numbness<br>\u2022 No further tests are required<br>\u2022 Most patients do not need any further treatment<br>\u2022 If your pain is bad enough that you would like to take a painkiller for it then there are tablet treatments that can be recommended by your doctor.<br>\u2022 Meralgia paraesthetica symptoms can persist<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__nav-link\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title-wrapper\"><a href=\"#\"><span class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__title\">Resources and Links<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-getwid-tabs__tab-content\">\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meralgia Paraesthetica is the medical term for a benign condition where there is a painful patch of numbness on the side of the thigh. The picture below shows the area normally affected although this can vary from person to person. image courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group LTD M.A. &amp; R.D. 19-08-25<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":4167,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"class_list":["post-4135","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-meralgiaparaesthetica"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"NHS Lothian","author_link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/author\/nhs-lothian\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":" <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/category\/neurology\/nerveentrapmentsyndromes\/meralgiaparaesthetica\/\" rel=\"tag\">Meralgia Paraesthetica<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Meralgia Paraesthetica is the medical term for a benign condition where there is a painful patch of numbness on the side of the thigh. The picture below shows the area normally affected although this can vary from person to person. image courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group LTD M.A. &amp; R.D. 19-08-25","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4135"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25199,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4135\/revisions\/25199"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}