No one鈥檚 exactly sure what causes Bell鈥檚 palsy, a condition that involves sudden weakness on one side of the face. But the symptoms are unmistakable. Once the weakness, or paralysis, sets in, it can affect your ability to control blinking, smiling or other facial gestures.
The good news: Bell鈥檚 palsy is treatable and usually gets better within a couple of weeks, says , a facial plastic surgeon at Rush.
1. Certain groups have a higher risk
Bell鈥檚 palsy affects roughly one out of every thousand people in the United States each year. Current research strongly indicates it could be caused by a virus related to chickenpox that weakens facial nerves. Anyone can get it, but adults between the ages of 30 and 50 have the highest risk.
Women also seem to be more at risk than men. And pregnant women, for reasons still not completely known, are at a higher risk yet 鈥 especially in the first and third trimesters. That could be related to weakened immune systems, Revenaugh suggests.
2. Bell鈥檚 palsy and stroke have similar 鈥 but different 鈥 symptoms
Common symptoms of Bell鈥檚 palsy include the following:
- Weakness on one side of your face
- Limited sense of taste
- Increased sensitivity to noise
- Watery eyes
See your doctor immediately if you experience these symptoms, since they could also be signs of stroke or nerve damage. But Revenaugh says there鈥檚 a key difference between Bell鈥檚 palsy and stroke symptoms. If the patient is having difficulty moving other parts of the body or speaking, those would be signs of a stroke. Bell鈥檚 palsy most often is facial paralysis without other signs or symptoms.
3. Effective treatments are available
The most common treatment for Bell鈥檚 palsy is high-dose steroids, prescribed by your doctor, which reduce the inflammation of the affected nerves. It's important that these are started as soon as possible.
Sometimes antiviral drugs can be helpful, too. But that the treatment is more controversial, since it鈥檚 not fully proven Bell鈥檚 palsy is caused by a virus. And if a patient does receive antivirals, it would be in combination with the traditional treatment of steroids.
Either way, treatments last roughly two weeks. Then a doctor can assess the extent of the patient鈥檚 recovery.
4. Recovery can be unpredictable
Facial weakness related to Bell鈥檚 palsy usually lasts just four days to one week. But full recovery from Bell鈥檚 palsy can stretch out from a couple of weeks to a few months.
Unfortunately, Revenaugh says, 鈥渨e have not had a good way of predicting who's going to recover well and who is not. Certainly, if they're afflicted and it's a full (facial) paralysis, some of those patients don't recover as well.鈥
Many patients with Bell鈥檚 palsy who have sores around their ears don鈥檛 recover as well as others, he says, adding that it could be related to Bell鈥檚 palsy being a shingles-type virus impeding full recovery.
5. Specialized physical therapy can help you recover
There's a specific type of physical therapy called 鈥渇acial retraining鈥 for those with long-term Bell鈥檚 palsy symptoms, which you can get at Rush. 鈥淏ut it's not necessarily the traditional physical therapy that we think of,鈥 Revenaugh says, 鈥渨ith weightlifting and working on stability and movement.鈥
In this case, it鈥檚 careful retraining of the facial muscles. If patients have poor recovery, botulinum toxin and surgery can help. At Rush, there are several physicians with experience with these treatments.
So there are great options for patients with long-term symptoms who need physical therapy. But, fortunately, Bell鈥檚 palsy isn鈥檛 usually a long-term problem for most.
鈥淲ith alterations in facial movement and relatively unknown origins, Bell鈥檚 palsy can be a very difficult diagnosis for patients,鈥 he says. 鈥淚t is important to know there are treatment options and experts at Rush who can help guide patients through their recovery.鈥
