BODY SIGNAL ALERT: FACIAL PARALYSIS ON ONE SIDE, WITH AN INABILITY TO CLOSE ONE EYE
Description and Possible Medical Problems
A patient recently told me what happened the morning he first saw the signs of Bell’s palsy staring back at him in the mirror.
“I had just gotten up and was getting ready to go to work,” he said. “I was in the bathroom and just about to shave my face when I noticed that the right side of my face was distorted and drooping. I was also drooling a little. At first I thought that I’d had a stroke, but then I noticed that my arms, legs, and speech were all fine.”
My patient had the classic symptoms of Bell’s palsy, which is not a stroke, as is commonly thought, but the inflammation of a facial nerve in the brain, called the fifth nerve or the trigeminal nerve, which is responsible for neurological sensations in the mouth, the nasal cavity, the eyes, and the front of the scalp. In most cases it is caused by a virus and the symptoms will totally disappear after a few weeks. The most serious problem with Bell’s palsy is that the eye tends to dry out at night because it won’t stay closed.
Treatment
In order to confirm the diagnosis of Bell’s palsy, you should see your physician, but beyond that nothing else is needed since the condition is viral and the symptoms and the nerve inflammation disappear eventually.
Some physicians prescribe steroids such as prednisone to hasten the recovery, starting at about 40 milligrams a day and then tapering down the dosage after about four days. If one of my patients has Bell’s palsy, I will send him to an ophthalmologist so that he can receive proper eye care, which may include artificial tears or a special bandage to protect the eye during sleep.
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