Facial paralysis, is a common and frequently-occurring disease characterized by motor dysfunction of facial expression muscles, regardless of age and gender. This disease is a common and frequently-occurring disease in clinical neurology. It can occur at any age, but it is most common in 20-40 year old. It can occur in any season. Those with mild facial paralysis, and timely treatment, recover better; the longer the duration of facial paralysis, the worse the recovery.
Symptoms: Mostly manifested as paralysis of facial expression muscles on the affected side, the disappearance of forehead wrinkles, enlarged eye clefts, flat nasolabial folds, and drooping corners of the mouth. When smiling or showing teeth, the corners of the mouth drop, and the face is more skewed. On the sick side, actions such as frowning, closing eyes, puffing, and pouting cannot be done. When bulging the cheeks and whistling, air leaks due to the inability to close the lips on the diseased side. When eating, food residues often stay in the buccal space on the diseased side, and saliva often drips down from this side. Due to the eversion of the lower eyelid, the tears cannot be drained normally and overflow.
Causes of facial paralysis:
Modern Medicine:
Caused by facial neuritis. Clinically, it can be divided into central facial neuritis and peripheral facial neuritis according to the location of the damage. The lesions of central facial neuritis are located in the corticomedullary tract between the facial nerve nucleus and the cerebral cortex and are usually caused by cerebrovascular disease, intracranial tumor, brain trauma, and inflammation. Peripheral facial neuritis lesions occur in the facial nucleus and the facial nerve. Common causes of peripheral facial neuritis, infectious lesions, mostly caused by activation of latent sensory ganglion virus in the facial nerve; otogenic diseases, such as otitis media; autoimmune reactions; tumors; neurogenic; traumatic; poisoning, such as alcoholism, long-term exposure to toxic substances; metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, vitamin deficiency; vascular insufficiency; congenital facial nerve nucleus hypoplasia. Clinically more common is caused by viral infection.
Traditional Chinese medicine:
Facial paralysis, in traditional Chinese medicine, belongs to the category of ‘stroke’. Under the condition of fatigue and physical decline, the righteous Qi is relatively deficient in the interior, and the head and face are attacked by the evil of wind and cold, which leads to blockage of the meridians, obstruction of the meridians and collaterals of Qi and blood, and dystrophy of the muscles and veins, and the symptoms of deviated eyes and mouth are seen.
