Facial muscle spasm (HFS) is a common cranial nerve disorder. Non-surgical treatments include medication, ultrasonic physiotherapy, pharmacological nerve injections, radiofrequency therapy, etc. The efficacy is often poor, and it is now considered that manifest microvascular decompression is the preferred surgical treatment. What is facial muscle spasm, also known as hemifacial twitch, is a rapid and frequent twitching of facial muscles, with each episode lasting from a few seconds to several minutes, with intervals as normal. Most of them are limited to one side, often occurring first in the lower eyelid, and gradually expanding in scope to the corners of the mouth, other facial muscles and the broad neck muscles. The onset is mostly in young and middle-aged people. Seizures can be triggered by voluntary facial movements and chewing, transient eyes, and random facial expressions, and can be aggravated by emotional excitement, stress, exertion, or prolonged reading periods, and reduced when resting or emotionally stable. In some patients, the tonic contraction of the eyelids may cause the lid fissure to become smaller, and the corners of the mouth may be continuously tilted to the diseased side. EMG examination of the affected muscles may show high frequency rhythmic motor unit discharges (50-100 times/minute).
Some patients may have tinnitus and hearing loss. Individual patients may have trigeminal neuralgia. There is no treatment that compares to the effect of microvascular decompression. Microvascular decompression is the treatment of choice for facial spasm, and it has the following advantages: thorough treatment; less recurrence; no recurrence; and no recurrence.
It has the following advantages: thorough treatment; not easy to recur; no side effects; and few complications. The etiology of facial myospasm and the principle of surgery The cause of this disease is the demyelination of the facial nerve roots due to compression by blood vessels, resulting in a “short circuit” between nerve fibers. The most common causes of compression are dilated, lengthened, and twisted arterial vessels. Because microvascular compression of the facial nerve roots is the main cause of facial muscle spasm, if the vessels are detached, the spasm can be completely and permanently relieved.