Bell's Palsy

Bell's Palsy

Bell's palsy is a health condition in which the muscles on one side of the face paralyze or weaken. It is caused by damage to facial nerves that regulate facial muscles. This causes one side of the face to droop. This nervous breakdown in the face may also affect your sense of taste as well as the process that produces saliva and tears. In most cases, the condition manifests immediately, more often than not overnight. However, the symptoms disappear on their own within a few weeks.

Symptoms of Bell's Palsy
Basically, this condition is characterized by drooping of the skin on one side of the face. Symptoms of the condition appear rapidly and may be felt while walking, eating or drinking. Normally, the symptoms of bell palsy will manifest after other infections, such as Ear Infection, eye infection or cold. In most cases, the patient is not capable of regulating the closing and opening of the eye on the affected side of the face. In more advanced cases, the condition may affect both sided of the face.

Other symptoms of the condition include:

• Drooling


• Headache


• Sensitivity to sound


• Weakness in the face


• Twitches in facial muscles


• Dry mouth and eye on the affected side


• Having difficulties while drinking or eating


• Incapacity to make facial expressions, including frowning and smiling

If you experience any of these symptoms, it is advisable to seek medical attention from a qualified medical practitioner. Self diagnosis is not advised as symptoms of Bell's palsy are similar to those of other conditions like Lyme Disease, cranial Tumor and Stroke.

Causes of Bell's Palsy
In most cases, this condition is associated with a viral infection, including herpes and Influenza. Additionally, the condition may also be as a result of other infections, including Lyme disease. However, not all the patients of these viral infections or Lyme disease contract this condition; only a few do. After such infections, the immune system responds to the infection. This leads to the inflammation of the nerve. Consequentially, the nerve is compressed because it goes through a small opening in the skull. This results into Bell's palsy. Although the condition may affect people across all age groups, it mostly affects adults, pregnant women and Diabetes patients.

Diagnosis of Bell's Palsy
Basically, there are various ways in which a doctor can diagnose this condition. To begin with, the doctor will review the symptoms and your medical history. Additionally, the doctor may ask you a few questions, regarding the condition, and even administer a neurological and physical exam to evaluate the functioning of the facial nerve. At this point, the doctor is able to detect other conditions, other than Bell's palsy, that may be causing the facial paralysis. Other conditions that may cause the face to paralyze include stroke, certain tumors, injury/trauma, infection and Lyme disease. If the cause is not clear yet, the doctor may refer you to a specialist or carry out extensive tests on you, including blood tests, CT scans and MRI.

Treatment of Bell's Palsy
It is true that Bell's palsy may go away on its own, but treatment can help to speed up the recovery process.

1. Steroid Medications
After diagnosis, one of the most recommended prescription is the steroid tablets. In this regard, the Prednisolone is the commonly used tablet to reduce inflammation. In the past, the use of steroid medications for this condition were controversial. However, studies have revealed that a short course of Steroids, up to 10 days, helps in recovery. Taking such short courses of the steroids increases the chances of full recovery from this condition and has minimal side effects. It is advisable to start this treatment as soon as possible after the symptoms manifest, probably within the first 72 hours.

2. Antiviral Medications
In most cases, this condition is caused by a viral infection. Therefore, using antiviral medicines can help in alleviating the symptoms. Some of these medications may be used to prevent the cold sore virus and the Chickenpox virus from multiplying. However, various studies have revealed that using these medications alone may not improve Bell's palsy. As such, it is advisable to combine the antiviral medication with a 10 day course steroid medication for better results.

3. Protect the Eye
The bell palsy may interfere with the ability of your eye to close fully. When this happens, the eye is at risk of infection or even damage. Additionally, the condition causes tear glands to malfunction. This leaves the eye dry. To prevent the eye from getting damaged, it is advisable to use treatment to moisten it. The following protection measures are advised until you fully recover:

• Wear goggles or an eye pad for protection


• Use eye drops to keep the eye moist throughout the day (Eye drops containing methylcellulose are more recommended and do not require prescription.)


• Use an eye ointment to keep the eye moist over the night


• Open and close the lids regularly throughout the day

Alternatively, you may also tape the lower and the upper lids of the affected eye before going to sleep.

Home Care for Bell's Palsy
1. Exercising the Face
As the muscles begin to recover from the symptoms of this condition, exercising will help in strengthening them. Some of the exercises that are commonly used to work out these muscles include relaxing and tightening them regularly. Additionally, it is also important that you regularly massage the cheeks, lips and forehead with a cream or oils to hasten the recovery process.

2. Taking Care of the Mouth
This condition may affect one side of your mouth leading to a loss of senses as well as saliva on the affected part of the mouth which may cause food to get stuck in that part of the mouth. This may in turn lead to Tooth Decay or even gum disease. Therefore, it is important to floss and brush your mouth thoroughly and frequently if you are suffering from this condition. To avoid the swallowing problems associated with Bell's palsy, it is advisable to chew your food well and eat slowly. Additionally, you should also eat smooth and soft foods.

For more information on this condition, you may watch this video:

Bells Palsy

Bells Palsy






Bell’s palsy is a strange condition that causes weakness in the muscles of the face. Weakening of muscles of the face is sudden reaction that may change the appearance of the face. When the affected person smiles it will not be complete smile. One side of his face begins to droop and his eyes would resist closing as he continues to smile. Since the facial muscles are affected due to this problem Bell’s palsy is also known as facial palsy.

This condition can occur at any age with the sudden onset of symptoms. For most of the people the symptoms will automatically be resolved without any treatment. For few others with continued Bell’s palsy medications are prescribed to manage the inflammation of facial muscles. Surgery is also done to correct the compression of the nerve endings on the face. If you have sudden signs of weakness of your face and symptoms of Bell’s palsy you need to consult your doctor immediately since it can be due to more serious causes like Stroke or ischemic attack.

Symptoms :

Bell’s palsy is characterized by the sudden appearance of symptoms. It has the peculiar sign of face drooping on one side. It can cause partial or total paralysis of the nerves of your face and development can take place within hours. It becomes difficult for the person to smile and there may be trouble in closing the eyes on one side.

This can cause mild to moderate pain in the jaws and also on the ear of the affected side. Again all these symptoms appear on only one side of the face and not on both sides. In some cases it would cause numbness on the affected side. The affected side of the face becomes sensitive to sound and any movement. Some people will have problems in tasting the food and it can cause reduced secretion of saliva and tears. It can cause eye problems like reduced tears (dryness) or excess of tears on the eye.

Causes :

What exactly triggers the problem of Bell’s palsy is not fully understood. It is believed to be caused by nerve weakness on the face or due to inflammation of facial muscles. Experts believe that Bell’s palsy occurs due to viral infection. Group of viruses that cause Herpes Simplex, herpes zoster, adenovirus, Epstein Barr virus, rubella virus and Influenza virus can cause Bell’s palsy when the nerve endings of the facial muscles are affected. Actually the nerve endings become swollen affecting the normal movement of the facial muscles.

Who are at risk?

Bell’s palsy can develop on any individual irrespective of age and gender. People who have recently developed infections like flu or Common Cold affecting the upper respiratory tract are more prone to get Bell’s palsy than others. Pregnant women (III trimester stage) and women who have recently given birth are prone to develop Bell’s palsy.

Complications :

In rare cases Bell’s palsy can cause permanent damage to the facial muscles. In extreme cases this disease can cause partial vision loss when the eyes become overly dry tearing the protective layer.

Diagnosis :

No lab test is available to diagnose Bell’s palsy. But the doctor can easily detect this problem by observing the symptoms and looking at your face. He may ask you to close your eyes or smile or lift your eyebrow to check for normal movements of the facial muscles.

Treatment :

Very often Bell’s palsy symptoms will get cured on its own within few days. However in some cases if the facial muscles become compressed medications can be given for correcting it. Anti-inflammatory drugs like prednisone are prescribed to reduce inflammation of face muscles. The muscles will have to sit properly on the narrow bony path to prevent the partial paralysis of the nerves. These drugs will give the desired effect and cure the symptoms. If the doctor suspect viral infection is the cause of Bell’s palsy he would prescribe antiviral medications like acyclovir or valacyclovir.

Physiotherapy is the next best alternative for treating compressed facial muscles. The therapist will gently massage the muscles on your face to get relief from compression. It would also prevent further shrinkage of the muscles. Surgery is the last choice for treating Bell’s palsy and is done only on severe cases. The surgeon would open the bony corridor on the face on which the nerve passes. He would gently relieve the pressure from the nerve endings on the face. However this type of surgery carries some risk. For some people this can cause deafness and permanent injury on the face.

Pictures of Bells Palsy :

Images, Pics, Pictures and Photos of Bells Palsy

Home Remedies :

In case the compressed face muscle has affected your eye you can use eye-drops for getting relief from dryness. This would keep your eyes moist and will also help in secretion of tears. To get temporary relief from pain beneath the ears due to Bell’s palsy you can take pain killers like Ibuprofen or aspirin. (Children should not be given aspirin without consulting the doctor)

Alternatively you can use hot and cold therapy on the affected eye to get relief from pain and dryness. Apply warm cloth over the affected eye and leave it for some minutes. Repeat this process using soft cloth dipped in ice water. This can be applied on the face also which helps in reducing the inflammation.