The symptoms of Bell’s palsy (also known as acute peripheral facial palsy), include sudden weakness in your facial muscles. In most cases, the weakness is temporary and significantly improves over weeks. The weakness makes half of your face appear to droop. Your smile is one-sided, and your eye on that side resists closing.
The exact cause of facial palsy is unknown. It can occur at any age. It’s believed to be the result of swelling and inflammation of the nerve that controls the muscles on one side of your face. Or it might be a reaction that occurs after a viral infection.
Signs and symptoms of Bell’s palsy come on suddenly and may include:
- Rapid onset of mild weakness to total paralysis on one side of your face — occurring within hours to days
- Facial droop and difficulty making facial expressions, such as closing your eye or smiling
- Drooling
- Pain around the jaw or in or behind your ear on the affected side
- Increased sensitivity to sound on the affected side
- Headache
- Loss of taste
- Changes in the amount of tears and saliva you produce
Risk factors
Bell’s palsy occurs more often in people who:
- Are pregnant, especially during the third trimester, or who are in the first week after giving birth
- Have an upper respiratory infection, such as the flu or a cold
- Have diabetes
At Vivacare Advanced Physiotherapy & Pain Clinic, our physiotherapists will assess all the muscles involved. An individualized treatment plan will be designed which will include Electrical Muscle Stimulation, manual therapy for facial muscles and facial exercises to help in quick and complete recovery.
You will be provided a home exercise regime to help strengthen the weak muscles and stretch the opposite side’s tight/shortened muscles. Guidelines for eye care will also be provided to you.