The Chinese history has been characterized by the arrival of everything in China, no matter whether you are positive or negative. The Chinese cure for facial paralysis is the most unique. Nowadays, there are many folk practitioners who are willing to cooperate with me, offering different kinds of treatments, and it seems that all roads lead to Rome, and all of them can cure facial paralysis. It should be said that most of them have good intentions, but some of them are in great conflict with the behavior of modern medicine, so I will not make too much evaluation here, but only want to introduce the common misconceptions in facial palsy treatment in China, which are purely one-sided, and you can write to me for advice if you have different opinions.
Myth 1: Cure rate
Many doctors do not have the concept of cure rate, what do you mean by cure? Our research laboratory has strict scoring criteria that are internationally accepted. Without this concept that is empty talk about the efficacy, is to mislead patients, which is when the country into the legal process, why began to rectify the medical (advertising) market. A significant portion of the patients who come to me are people who have been declared cured by their original doctors.
Myth 2. Self-cure rate
According to the bulk case reports from abroad, the self-healing rate of facial palsy is around 80%, and I estimate that it is slightly lower in China, but also around 70%. Those who return to normal within 3 weeks of the onset of the disease are considered to be self-healed.
Our outpatients have recovered in one day, 4-5 days, and about 10 days. It is not that I am a miracle doctor, but they are the lucky ones who can heal on their own, so we as doctors can pick up a bargain and get a false name.
Unfortunately, there are too few doctors in China who are brave enough to admit that facial palsy is self-healing. I often hear them say, “Look at that patient, he got better after only two treatments with me.
Myth 3: Thousands of people have the same prescription and buy cows from other mountains
There are more than 100 causes of facial palsy, which should be treated specifically. Some people use the same prescription to treat all facial palsy patients, do you think he can do it? Why don’t you just tie the chicken’s blood, what else do we doctors need?
Myth 4: Repeat acupuncture or related invasive treatment at fixed points on the patient’s face in the early stages of facial palsy
This sentence has a lot of definite words, which shows my respect for acupuncture, not to deny everything, but also a kind of helplessness.
Because there is still a need for affordable treatments for everyone in the old, young, and poor areas, and this is what drives me in my ongoing quest for new treatments.
But this misconception still needs to be brought up because recent electrophysiological studies have confirmed that these means can lead to irreversible damage to the patient’s facial nerve endings, creating scarring within the facial muscle and affecting the final outcome.
Another thing that has incurred the resentment of Western medicine is that some acupuncturists still do not spare facial palsy caused by skull base fractures and tumors… is it obsession with the specialty? Or is it stupidity?
Myth 5: Complete facial palsy is still treated conservatively for more than 1 month
Studies have shown that after 3-4 weeks of onset, those who still have no real movement of the facial muscles are unlikely to be cured by conservative therapy. A comprehensive treatment based on surgical decompression should be considered to obtain the best results.
Myth 6: Traumatic facial palsy and skull base fracture wait for 3 months conservatively
The rapid development of modern medicine and the emergence of various advanced technologies have made early diagnosis and treatment of traumatic facial palsy possible, and the view of conservative waiting for 3 months is outdated. Neuropathy should be handled with the idea of emergency care, and blindly waiting means regret.
Myth 7: Facial palsy still does not improve after 6 months or more
In 2006, we treated 22 cases of tumor facial palsy, and to my surprise, the shortest case was only 50 days old, but the cartilage tumor hidden in the base of his skull was nearly 5 cm in size.