Age changes in the two-point discrimination threshold in skin innervated by the trigeminal nerve

Fifty young and fifty elderly subjects were tested by a two-point discrimination method. An aesthesiometer was applied to the facial skin in three different areas innervated exclusively by the ophthalmic, maxillary or mandibular branch of the trigeminal nerve. Two characteristic age differences were disclosed: (1) higher threshold values were found in older subjects, and (2) a greater range of variation in these values was present also among the older subjects. Wales.