How is Bell's Palsy Treated?

Lots of people treat Bell's Palsy lightly, thinking that those facial nerve often repairs itself without any treatments involved. Though the symptoms may go away and getting better each day, but if you want to speed up your recovery then you need to seek your doctor's advice regarding your condition and probably the ask the right medicine's prescription to help the nerve heals and return to normal.

Here are some popular treatment of Bell's Palsy or Facial Paralysis;

Self-Help
Every person that diagnosed with Bell's Palsy had difficulty blinking their eye of the affected side, so they need to take precautions against drying of the said eye on the side of facial weakness. And must keep the affected eye moist all the time.

•  Lubricate eye drops such as artificial tears, eye ointment or eye gels.

• An eye patch or a tape to help the affected eye closed and not expose to dust. Also an eye patch helps you to keep your eye close before and during your sleep.

Medicines
Your physician may prescribe a steroid such as Prednisone for the first few days to a week of facial weakness to reduce the inflation and or to fight the virus to help speed up recovery. Along with the steroid, the doctor probably includes some vitamins such as Vitamin B1, B2 and B6.

Follow your doctor's advice accordingly and read the directions that includes on the medicine box carefully before taking any of those medication.

Complementary Therapies
Though the effectiveness of these treatments are still needs more research, acupuncture and physical therapies such as facial exercises, electrolytes and facial massage may be beneficial for facial paralysis or Bell's Palsy.

The use of electrolytes of Bell's palsy patients with blood pressure and blood glucose must be monitored by specialist.

Surgical Procedures
Mostly, Bell's Palsy patients fully-recovered naturally, and using surgical procedures to cure the facial paralysis is not necessary. However some patients especially those been with the symptoms for more than a year and without or with very slow improvements are opt to cosmetic and reconstructive surgery to improve their appearance.

Always consider to talk to your physician before considering these procedures.

What are the Symptoms of Bell's Palsy?

The main symptom of Bell's Palsy is that one side of your face becomes weak or total paralysis, though it varies from person to person. The symptoms usually come on very quickly and reach their worst point within two to three days. Moreover, someone with Bell's palsy can look forward to getting better in a couple of weeks.

Signs of Bell's Palsy;

Sometimes mild ear ache or pain behind the ear is the first sign of Facial Paralysis.

Headache.

Numbness on the affected side.

Dryness or watering of the eye.

Drooping of the corner of the mouth, causing difficulty in speaking.

Difficulty chewing or dribbling of food and drinks.

Alteration or loss of taste at the front of the tongue.

Difficulty closing and blinking of the affected eye.

Sensitivity on hearing, probably louder in the affected area.

Changes in the amount of saliva in the mouth.

If you have any of the symptoms mentioned-above, consult your doctor immediately. Although the list of symptoms may be caused by any problems other than Bell's Palsy.



How is Bell's Palsy Diagnosed?

Physicians and doctors often can diagnose Bell's palsy by just looking at the face of the affected person. But to make sure, doctors might do tests like an MRI or CT scan, which take pictures of the inside of the head, to make sure nothing else is causing the facial weakness.

Specialized doctors, such as neurologist will do an electromyography or EMG test to the patient to make sure that most nervous system works and also to check if it has some damage nerves. An EMG can show how well the face's muscles are receiving signals from the facial nerve. That's how doctors diagnose if a person have a bell's palsy.

Possible Causes of Bell's Palsy

Facial Paralysis occurs when the facial nerve supplying the facial muscles becomes swollen, inflamed or compressed. The exact causes of Facial Paralysis are unknown, but the most common causes are believed to be the following;

• Viral infections e.g. Herpes Simplex, Herpes Zoster Virus or Viral Meningitis.
• Exposure to sudden cold.
• Chronic middle ear infection.
• Trauma such as head injury.
• Injury to the facial nerve caused during surgery like parotidectomy.
• Tumors.
• Maybe happen with patient that has high blood pressure.
• Patients with influenza or flu-like illness, headaches.
• Diabetic patients.