Rehabilitation training and prognosis of facial neuritis

The main expression muscles involved in facial palsy are occipitofrontalis, frontalis, orbicularis oculi, superior labialis, zygomaticus, orbicularis orbis and inferior labialis squareis. The functional training of these major muscles can promote the normalization of the motor function of the entire facial expression muscles. The following treatment methods should be selected according to the patient’s different symptoms during training, with 2~3 times of training per day and 10~20 times of training for each movement. Specific training methods are as follows: 1. Eyebrow raising training The completion of the eyebrow raising action mainly relies on the movement of the frontal ventral occipital muscle. In the disuse type, mild and moderate lesion type facial palsy, the motor function of occipitofrontalis frontalis is the easiest to recover. Patients can be asked to raise the eyebrows on the healthy side and the affected side to help restore the eyebrow raising motor function. 2.Eye Closure Training The function of eye closure mainly relies on the motor contraction of orbicularis oculi muscle to complete. When training eye closure, ask the patient to gently close the eyes at the beginning and close both eyes at the same time for 10~20 times. If the eyelids cannot be completely closed, use the finger belly of the index finger to gently massage along the infraorbital rim when showing white, and then forcefully close the eyes for 10 times to help restore the eyelid closure function. 3. Nose shrugging training The nose shrugging exercise is mainly done by lifting the upper lip muscles and the contraction of the nasal pressure muscles. The nasal shrug training can promote the recovery of the motor function of the nasal pressor and upper lip muscles. A few patients do not know how to shrug their noses, so they should pay attention to the direction of the nose when training. 4, show teeth training Show teeth action mainly relies on the contraction of the zygomaticus major and minor muscles, lift the corners of the mouth muscle and smile muscle to complete. The dysfunction of these four muscles is the main reason for the crookedness of the corners of the mouth. The patient is instructed to move the corners of the mouth to both sides at the same time, to avoid only to one side of the force to practice a habitual skewed movement of the corners of the mouth. 5.Nu mouth training Nu mouth mainly relies on the contraction of the orbicularis oris muscle to complete. When training, contract the lips and nuzzle forward with force. After the orbicularis oris muscle is restored, the patient can puff up the cheeks, and the symptoms of brushing teeth or eating drooling will disappear. When training the mouth, the motor functions of the upper lip, lower lip and chin muscles are trained at the same time. 6, cheek training Cheek training helps to restore the motor function of orbicularis oris muscle and buccal muscle. When the cheek is leaking, use your hand to squeeze the affected orbicularis oris muscle up and down for cheek puffing training. If the patient can perform cheek puffing exercise, it means that the motor function of orbicularis oris muscle and buccal muscle can be restored to normal, and the symptoms of tooth brushing leakage, drooling and food stagnation will disappear. This method helps to prevent and control the contracture of the upper lip square muscle. The training of each movement above is designed for the motor disorders of different muscle groups, so when observing the motor disorders of the patient’s facial expression muscles, the training should be carried out for the involved muscle groups, and if the involved muscle groups cannot be judged effectively, the motor function training can be carried out according to the above procedures, and good rehabilitation results can also be obtained. Prognosis The prognosis of those who have not recovered for more than 6 months is poor, and some of them may have facial muscle spasm or facial muscle twitching. The former shows deepening of the nasolabial fold on the diseased side, the corners of the mouth are pulled toward the diseased side, the eye fissure becomes smaller, and the healthy side is easily mistaken for the diseased side (inversion phenomenon); the latter shows involuntary twitching of the facial muscles on the diseased side, and the symptoms are more obvious when nervous, which can affect normal work in severe cases. A few of the diseased side can also appear “crocodile tears sign” that the diseased side of the eye tears when eating, etc. Prevention: Enhance physical fitness, pay attention to keeping the face and behind the ears warm during the cold season, and patients should take active health care measures to cooperate with treatment, such as keeping the face warm from cold, wearing scarves and masks when going out, avoiding wind blowing directly on the face, and eating less or no frozen drinks or food. The important point is to drink enough water every day.