What is facial paralysis? Facial paralysis, or peripheral facial nerve paralysis. It is caused by damage to the facial nerve, which innervates the facial expression muscles, resulting in facial muscle movement disorders. In traditional Chinese medicine, this is called “xiao xiao” or “tilted mouth and eyes”. It is generally believed to be caused by acute non-suppurative inflammation of the part of the facial nerve that passes through the facial neural tube. Its pathological changes are mainly manifested as edema of the facial nerve, myelin sheath or axonal degeneration of different degrees. Etiology The exact cause of the disease is unknown. Facial paralysis may be caused by a viral infection (e.g. herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, etc.). Facial paralysis often occurs when the local area is exposed to cold wind or after catching a cold, so it may be due to cold-induced vasospasm of the blood vessels that nourish the facial nerve, resulting in ischemia of the nerve and damage to the capillaries, which leads to edema; edema further aggravates the nerve compression and impedes the flow of lymph and blood, resulting in a vicious cycle that leads to facial paralysis. Chinese medicine believes that this disease is due to the lack of positive energy in the human body, the face, the ear suffered from wind and cold (rain, wind, air conditioning, cold, etc.) attack, the collaterals and veins are empty, the wind and cold evil take advantage of the weakness into the middle of the qi and blood paralysis, resulting in the local meridians and collaterals stagnation, the tendons and muscles longitudinally and slowly do not collect. The incidence of pregnant women is higher than that of ordinary women, especially from 2 weeks before to 2 weeks after delivery. The incidence of diabetes mellitus is 4-5 times higher than that of the general population. 7-10% of patients have a family history of the disease. The disease may develop in all age groups, with a prevalence between 30 and 45 years of age, and a relatively rare incidence before 15 years of age. About half of the patients have a history of head and face cold, about 20% have excessive fatigue, and about 20% have a history of upper respiratory tract infection. Clinical manifestations The onset of the disease is rapid, often without self-awareness of symptoms, many patients reported that there is no abnormality before going to bed, but when they get up in the morning, they feel that they can not drink water and gargle, or they do not feel it, but it is the first thing that others notice. This sudden onset of unilateral facial paralysis without other symptoms or signs is often a typical manifestation of facial paralysis. Recovery from facial paralysis usually occurs within 1-6 months, with 70-85% of patients recovering completely or relatively well, while a few patients may not recover at all or may have an unsatisfactory recovery. Unsatisfactory recovery is common in patients with herpes in the ear, patients with previous history of facial paralysis, patients with severe facial paralysis at the onset of the disease, patients who have not received timely medical treatment, the elderly, diabetic patients, patients with high blood pressure, or patients with significant pain behind the ear. About 10% of patients may have a recurrence. Complications or sequelae that may occur in patients who do not recover satisfactorily include facial muscle paralysis, spasticity, syndactyly, contractures, crocodile tear sign, dry eyes, auditory changes, and taste changes. Facial muscle paralysis, i.e., reduction of frontal lines, difficulty in closing the eyes, crooked corners of the mouth, and facial asymmetry that is more pronounced when blinking or laughing. Facial muscle spasm, i.e., involuntary twitching of the patient’s facial muscles. Associated movement, i.e. when the patient closes his eyes, the mouth will follow the twitching, or when the mouth moves, the eyes will follow a piece of closure. Facial myoclonus, manifested as deepening of the nasolabial folds on the affected side, narrowing of the facial cleft, and pulling of the corners of the mouth back towards the affected side, resulting in pseudo-paralysis of the facial muscles on the healthy side. Crocodile tears, manifested as involuntary tears on the affected side of the eye when the patient eats food, especially when he eats strong-flavored food, or even just when he sees or thinks of tasty food. Prevention: Facial neuritis is a common disease in young and middle-aged people with “crooked mouth”. If there is pain around one ear, accompanied by an inability to close the eye or face on that side, and the corner of the mouth is tilted to the opposite side, you should go to a neurological hospital immediately. About 90% of patients with facial neuritis who receive hormone therapy within 3 days of the onset of the disease, especially within 24 hours, will have a satisfactory recovery. Patients should tell their doctors about other diseases (e.g., diabetes, gastroduodenal ulcer, tuberculosis, hypertension, etc.) so that the doctors can rationalize the treatment plan. How to treat facial paralysis Once facial paralysis in the acute stage is diagnosed, hormones, methylcobalamin and symptomatic treatment should be used as early as possible if there is no contraindication to drugs. If the best time for treatment is delayed, it is easy to cause various complications and sequelae of facial paralysis. Acupuncture treatment for facial paralysis has a long history and reliable efficacy. What should I do if I have facial paralysis? Facial paralysis usually has 4 stages of development from the onset of symptoms to cure. The first week is the period of facial nerve paralysis; the second to third week is the period of stabilization; the third to fourth week is the period of facial nerve resuscitation; and the first to sixth month is the period of facial nerve recovery. Even if the condition is detected and you go to the hospital immediately to receive regular treatment, you will still go through these four stages of development. Especially in the first week to the second week, the symptoms will show aggravation. This is not because the treatment is ineffective, but is a normal manifestation of disease progression. Without treatment, the symptoms may get worse. Some people give up regular treatment and use medication indiscriminately on their own because they see that the disease does not get better but worsens instead. This is very wrong. The treatment of facial paralysis needs a process and should never be rushed. Because the survey shows that psychological factors are one of the important factors that trigger facial nerve palsy. Before the occurrence of facial nerve palsy, a considerable number of patients have physical fatigue, lack of sleep, mental tension and physical discomfort. Therefore, it is also important to maintain a good mood and ensure sufficient sleep during treatment. As a matter of fact, 70% to 85% of facial paralysis patients are able to get an ideal recovery if they are able to detect the condition in time and go to regular hospitals for treatment. Others have timely treatment and better symptom control, but stop treatment without full recovery. This is also very wrong, because whether facial paralysis can be cured or not lies in whether the treatment is timely or not, and whether the treatment is thorough or not. How to minimize the occurrence of facial paralysis? Enhancing physical fitness and eating well can minimize the occurrence of facial paralysis. The disease should be prevented before it occurs. Facial paralysis often occurs due to physical weakness after exertion, stress or sweating, decreased body resistance, and exposure to wind and cold in the head and face. Therefore, if you pay more attention to the following points in your life, you can prevent the disease before it occurs. Away from the wind and cold: blowing cold wind, cold water stimulation is the most common causative factors, so do not figure a moment of speed, straight long blowing air conditioning, fans, especially in physical activities after sweating. In the car, outdoor cool, bathing, drinking alcohol should also pay attention to not let the wind blow directly on the head and face, especially the old and frail, after the disease and suffering from hypertension, arthritis and other chronic diseases, especially should pay more attention. Do not wash your face with cold water, and soak your feet in hot water for 10-20 minutes before going to bed every night and then perform foot massage. Pay attention to rest: During the prevention and treatment of facial paralysis, you should pay attention to rest, ensure enough sleep, watch less TV, computer, avoid all kinds of mental stimulation and excessive fatigue, in order to facilitate the recovery of the disease. Psychological stress reduction: When facing pressure from work, study, social life, family life and other aspects, learn to self-adjustment, such as: confiding, listening to music, traveling, appropriate exercise. Appropriate exercise: in the morning, evening cooler time according to their own situation to choose some suitable sports, such as: walking, gymnastics, playing tai chi, dancing, etc., long-term adherence, will make the physical cycle is improved, the susceptibility to wind and cold and resistance will be greatly enhanced. Reasonable diet: eat less greasy stomach, not easy to digest food. To eat more vegetables and fruits, such as peaches, grapes, bitter melon, eggplants, green peppers, leeks, to maintain adequate vitamin intake. In addition to eat some rice noodles, coarse grains of food, in order to maintain the body enough energy supply, enhance the ability to resist disease. Timely medical treatment: once the onset of the disease, it is necessary to go to a regular hospital in a timely manner so as not to miss the best treatment.