The AAO Journal, 1997/09, 7(3):28-29, type of study: ,cr,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Free full text   (https://www.academyofosteopathy.org/assets/aaoj/AAOJ_Fall1997.pdf)

Keywords:

case report [736]
cranio-sacral osteopathy [231]
female [655]
women [608]

Abstract:

Bell's palsy is defined as paralysis or weakness of the muscles supplied by the facial nerve (CN VII) due to inflammation and swelling of the nerve within the facial canal. It is almost always unilateral, most common in people over the age of thirty, and affects approximately 1 in 65 people over the course of a lifetime. A diagnosis of Bell's palsy implies an idiopathic cause, but antecedent factors include exposure to cold or viruses, and head trauma. Associated diseases include the Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which is Bell's palsy along with vesicles in the external auditory canal or behind the auricle and is due to herpes zoster infection of the geniculate ganglion. Bilateral facial paralysis is highly unusual and should prompt a search for conditions such as Guillian-Barre syndrome or chronic meningitis.