Bell's Palsy: Diagnosis and Treatment

Abstract

Bell's palsy is a syndrome with facial nerve involvement, which is characterized by muscular dysfunction of the face, usually unilateral and of idiopathic etiology or associated with the Herpes simplex virus with acute onset of less than 72 hours. Bell's palsy represents 60-75% of acute unilateral facial palsies, without predilection for laterality. Several differential diagnoses are found such as head trauma, Lyme disease, Herpes-Zoster virus, as well as neoplasms and cerebrovascular events. It has clinical manifestations associated with muscular nerve involvement such as difficulty smiling, frowning, closing the eyes, raising the eyebrows. Its diagnosis is mainly clinical and the management must be adequate and in a timely manner with corticosteroids in the first 3 days from its initiation, antiviral therapy is not used as monotherapy, however, it can be added if there is evidence of Herpes virus involvement, complementary physical therapy has also become a key factor in the recovery of muscle function. Eye care is very important, as it represents a risk of injury to the cornea due to incomplete closure of the eyelid. The prognosis is good as most patients have a complete remission.