A facial palsy is weakness or paralysis of the muscles of the face. Bell’s palsy is a temporary weakness or paralysis of the facial nerve. Bell’s palsy usually occurs suddenly, affecting the greater part of one side of the face. The cause often is unknown. After the abrupt onset of Bell’s palsy, most people develop maximum weakness within 48 hours. Prior to the onset, some people feel pain behind the ear. It affects only one side of the face at a time, causing it to droop or become stiff on that side. But it seems to occur more often in people who have diabetes or are recovering from viral infections.
CAUSES
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Trauma
- Toxins
- Lyme disease
- Guillain-Barré syndrome
- Sarcoidosis
- Myasthenia gravis
- Infection, especially following a viral infection with Herpes simplex virus
SYMPTOMS
- Disordered movement of the muscles that control facial expressions, such as smiling, squinting, blinking, or closing the eyelid
- Loss of feeling in the face
- Headache
- Tearing
- Drooling
- Loss of the sense of taste on the front two-thirds of the tongue
- Hypersensitivity to sound in the affected ear
- Inability to close the eye on the affected side of the face