A sudden paralysis of the face or part of the face is known as Idiopathic facial paralysis or Bell’s palsy. It is a unilateral paralysis of your face caused by dysfunction of your facial nerve, which may be preceded by pain behind the ear or taste disorders. It may result in either partial or complete paralysis of the facial mimics.
Facial paralysis can be categorized depending on the extent of the nerve’s injury:
- First degree injury: a bruise to the nerve that will heal relatively quickly (about eight weeks)
- Second degree injury: more severe and will begin to heal after several months
- Third degree injury: involves significant damage, healing is very slow and always incomplete
This condition may also be accompanied by symptoms like loss of taste, an inability to control salivation, and reduced sensations in the skin of the face.
What Causes Facial Paralysis?
Most often, there are no obvious reasons, despite detailed clinical and laboratory testing, for facial palsy onset.
- Surgical damage
- Bacterial infections
- Physical trauma to the head
- Neurological conditions
Facial Palsy may be treated with acupuncture
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Facial Paralysis Treated with Acupuncture
The symptoms of Bell’s Palsy can be minimized and a quicker recovery may be seen when Acupuncture therapy is applied. Treatment for paralysis of any part of the body usually involves electro-acupuncture to help stimulate the muscles and nerves in the paralyzed area.
Acupuncture treatment is a holistic approach which addresses any imbalances, deficiencies, or excesses in the body in order to restore function to the facial nerve and muscles
The literature has demonstrated the efficacy of this therapy, using electromyography, to confirm that acupuncture combined with electrical stimulation can reverse peripheral facial paralysis in a short period of time.
References
- Zhou Y, Huang G, Luo C, Huang Z, Dai A, Zhang X, et al. (2022) Efficacy and safety of electric acupuncture in treatment of intractable facial paralysis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE 17(12): e0278509.
- Canan Ertemoğlu Öksüz, Ahmet Kalaycıoğlu, Özlem Uzun, Şahi Nur Kalkışım et al. The Efficacy of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Bell’s Palsy Sequelae, Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies, Vol12, Issue 4,2019.
- Qin Y, Yang L, Zhang M, Bai Y, Li Z, Zhao N, Li Z, et al. Efficacy evaluation and mechanism study of electroacupuncture intervention in acute phase of IFP: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Trials. 2021 Sep 28;22(1):663.
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