Blog Details

• admin
• 21 Jan 2025

BELL’S PALSY

What is Bell's palsy?

Bell's palsy is a sudden and unexplained weakness or paralysis of the facial muscles on one side of the face. In most cases, the weakness is temporary and improves within a few months.

Bell's palsy symptoms

• Weakness of the face, which is usually one-sided. The weakness normally develops quickly, over a few hours or so. You may first notice the weakness after getting up in the morning and so it may appear quite dramatic. It may gradually become worse over several days. The effects of the weakness vary, depending on whether the nerve is partially or fully affected. These include the following:

• Your face may droop to one side. When you smile, only half of your face may move.
• Chewing food on the affected side may be a problem. Food may become trapped between your gum and cheek. Drinks and saliva may escape from the side of your mouth.
• You may not be able to close the eye on the affected side. This may cause a watery or dry eye.
• You may not be able to wrinkle your forehead, whistle or blow out your cheek.
• You may have some difficulty with speech, as the muscles in the side of the face help in forming some words. For example, words beginning with a P.

• Most cases are painless or cause just a mild ache. However, some people develop some pain near the ear which can last for a few days.

• You may have increased sensitivity to sounds, such that loud sounds may be uncomfortable and normal noises may sound louder than usual. This is because a tiny muscle in the ear may stop working.

• You may lose the sense of taste on the side of the tongue that is affected.

Who gets Bell's palsy?

Anyone can develop Bell's palsy and it affects men and women equally. It most commonly occurs between the ages of 15 and 60 years. About 1 in 60 people have a Bell's palsy at some stage in their life.

What causes Bell's palsy?

It is thought that inflammation develops around the facial nerve as it passes through the skull from the brain. The nerve then partly, or fully, stops working until the inflammation goes. If the nerve stops working, the muscles that the nerve is connected to also stop working.

The cause of the inflammation is not known but, in most cases, it is probably due to a viral infection. Viruses linked to Bell's palsy include:

• Cold sore (herpes simplex) virus.
• Chickenpox (varicella-zoster) virus.

Most people have chickenpox at some stage (usually as a child) and many people have cold sores. The virus does not completely go after you have chickenpox or a cold sore. Some particles of virus remain dormant (inactive) in the nerve roots. They do no harm there and cause no symptoms. However, after many months or years, the virus may begin to multiply again (re-activate) causing inflammation around the facial nerve to cause Bell's palsy. It is more common in people with diabetes and also in women who are pregnant.

TREATMENT: Depending on the cause and how quickly you present to the doctor, Bell’s palsy is treatable with steroids and if needed, anti-virals. The paralysis, however, may last from days to weeks, but eventually most patients recover. It typically does not affect the brain or other parts of the body. Your doctor may request a CT Scan of the head to rule out important causes like Stroke. Good control of blood sugar helps prevent Bells Palsy in those with Diabetes.

Dr. M Najeeb, MBBS, MSc, MRCGP (UK) 

Diabetologist & General Physician 

City Clinic Khaitan