I. What is facial palsy?
Facial palsy is facial neuritis. In Chinese medicine, it is also known as “skewed mouth and eyes”, “hanging wind” and “secluded mouth”. It is a common disease characterized by sensory and motor dysfunction of the expression muscles on one side of the face.
Facial palsy can occur at any age, mostly in healthy adults between the ages of 20 – 35, and more in men than women. Facial palsy is a peripheral facial neuropathy, which is fundamentally different from facial palsy caused by cerebral infarction or cerebral hemorrhage.
What are the main clinical manifestations of facial palsy?
The facial expression muscles on one side of the face are straight and uncomfortable; the elevated head line on the diseased side becomes shallow or disappears, the eyes are closed or even exposed, tears flow, the nasolabial folds become shallow, the mid-mouth folds are distorted to the opposite side, the corners of the mouth are distorted to the opposite side, and the mouth leaks when puffing, leaks when gargling, and holds food when eating.
2. Some patients also have hypoesthesia or loss of taste in front of the tongue, auditory hypersensitivity, tinnitus, and pain in the back of the ear.
3. Some patients have pain and swelling around the ear before the onset, followed by herpes in the ear canal around the ear, and then the mouth and eyes are distorted after one or two days.
3. Incidence of facial palsy
In the 1980s, an epidemiological survey was conducted on some urban residents in China, and it was found that the prevalence of facial palsy was about 4.3 per 1,000 people.
The onset pattern of facial palsy
The onset of facial palsy can be divided into three phases.
1. 1-7 days after the onset of the disease, which is the acute phase, also called the progressive phase, some patients have gradually increased the degree of mouth and eye distortion, which is the normal pattern of the disease.
2. 8 – 15 days after the onset of the disease, which is the stable stage, and some patients’ improvement is not obvious.
3, the onset of 16 – 60 days, is the recovery period, this stage of treatment, the degree of crooked mouth and eyes will have leapfrog improvement, the general patients will be cured in this period. 3 months or more patients are not cured, is the sequelae of the period, the recovery rate is slower. However, as long as they get the right treatment and have perseverance, their condition will still improve.
What are the treatment methods for facial paralysis?
1.Medication: hormones, antiviral drugs, B vitamins.
2.Acupuncture treatment.
3.Chinese herbal medicine treatment.
4.Physical therapy.
How to choose the best treatment method for facial palsy patients after the onset?
There are three types of facial palsy in clinical practice: mild, moderate and severe. Western medicine is divided into.
1.Simple facial palsy (light)
2, Bell’s facial palsy (moderate)
3.Hunter’s facial palsy (severe).
Traditional Chinese medicine is divided into
1.Facial palsy of wind-cold type (light)
2, wind-heat type facial palsy (moderate)
3, Damp-heat type facial palsy (severe).
Light type facial palsy, which is characterized by the patient having only a slight tilting of the mouth and eyes, is effective with acupuncture, physiotherapy and medicine alone, and is usually cured in about 20 days. Moderate facial palsy is characterized by the patient not only having a more severe mouth and eye distortion, but also accompanied by hearing hypersensitivity on the affected side, tinnitus, and loss or disappearance of the sense of taste in front of the affected tongue. It is difficult to be cured in the short term by western medicine, Chinese medicine, physiotherapy and ointment, etc. Early treatment with acupuncture will cure more than 95% of patients. Severe facial palsy is characterized by the triad of facial palsy, periauricular pain and herpes, and some severe cases have vertigo, ataxia, trigeminal neuralgia, tinnitus, hearing impairment and impairment of taste, lacrimation and salivation. This type of facial palsy is difficult to be treated with western medicine, Chinese medicine, physiotherapy and ointment, etc. It needs to be treated with acupuncture at an early stage, and its cure rate is lower than that of the medium type of facial palsy.
Is facial palsy recurring?
Recurrence of facial palsy is uncommon, and the recurrence rate is about 4% to 7%. At present, the mechanism of recurrence of facial palsy is not clear. In addition to being related to the individual’s constitution, the causes of facial palsy recurrence may also be related to the following diseases.
1. Facial neuroma is a common cause of facial palsy recurrence. Many patients are diagnosed due to frequent occurrence of facial palsy, and facial neuroma is found by imaging.2. Patients with diabetes are prone to recurrence of facial palsy. In addition to organic lesions, facial palsy generally has a good prognosis as long as it is treated in a reasonable and timely manner.
How to prevent the occurrence and recurrence of facial palsy?
Facial palsy mostly occurs when the body’s ability to resist disease decreases. According to Chinese medicine, “if the righteousness exists inside, the evil cannot dry up”, and this is the truth. From the causes of facial palsy that we have seen over the years, overexertion, irregular work and rest, mental stress, depression, and sweating and wind can easily lead to facial palsy. To prevent the occurrence of facial palsy, it is necessary to strengthen physical exercise to enhance physical fitness; to add and remove clothes at the right time to conform to the yin and yang of the four seasons; to combine work and rest, and to laugh at life to make the qi and blood flow smoothly. In addition, the sweat hole is the gateway for external evil to invade the body, so avoid getting cold and wind when sweating, which is an important link to reduce the occurrence of facial palsy.
Patients with facial palsy should have firm confidence and insist on treatment for healing, so that facial palsy recurrence can be effectively prevented.
9. How to prevent the occurrence of facial palsy sequelae?
The sequelae of facial palsy basically occur in moderate and severe facial palsy. There are various factors that cause the occurrence of facial palsy sequelae: some patients have been plastered for 30 days or more, but the facial palsy is not cured before the patient goes to acupuncture, which increases the chance of sequelae. Some believe that acupuncture is not appropriate within 10 days of the onset of facial palsy, and are treated with hormones, antiviral drugs, and B vitamins, and receive acupuncture only after receiving the above treatments for more than a month with poor results, and the chance of sequelae also increases. Some patients pay too much attention to the facial palsy they suffer from and exhaust all kinds of methods, so to speak, and as a result, the sequelae appear. Some patients overestimate or do not understand the development pattern of the disease and think that they will be well in a few days, which will delay the treatment time and increase the chance of sequelae. A healthy state of mind after the onset of facial palsy is the key to recovery. The correct choice of treatment plan and the early intervention of acupuncture in the treatment of facial palsy along with medication is of great significance. Domestic and international data show that the earlier the treatment of facial palsy with acupuncture, the better the effect and the smaller the chance of sequelae.