Diagnosis and Management of Facial Paralysis

Abstract

DISEASES affecting the facial nerve present problems to physicians in all branches of medicine. Information on the facial nerve is scattered throughout the textbooks and journals of many specialties, and controversy exists: there is no agreement on diagnosis, prognosis, or therapy in cases of acute facial paralysis. Much of the disagreement can be traced to faulty premises — i.e., to incomplete knowledge of the pathophysiology of facial paralysis and to the lack of neurodiagnostic tests to indicate the pathology at any time during the course of the facial paralysis.The facial nerve was initially considered to be the nerve most . . .