The authors present the case of a 63-year-old woman with a 5-year history of intractable paroxysmal 'atypical' otofacial pain. The patient's pain attacks were not typical for either trigeminal or vagoglossopharyngeal neuralgia. Surgical exploration via a suboccipital retromastoid craniotomy showed vascular compression of the nervus intermedius by the anterior inferior cerebellar artery and the patient's pain was successfully managed with microvascular decompression.