Facial Paralysis can have many different causes. Bell’s palsy is the most common cause, and is a condition that results from nerve damage to the facial nerve and causes weakness or paralysis of the facial muscles.1 Typically affecting only one side of the face, and in rare cases both, symptoms of Bell’s palsy can range from mild weakness in the facial muscles to complete facial paralysis. This condition can make normal facial expressions, such as smiling or closing the eyes, difficult. While the cause of Bell’s palsy isn’t understood, it’s thought that a viral infection in the facial nerve—such as Herpes Simplex virus, responsible for cold sores, Epstein-Barr, or Lyme disease—causes swelling and inflammation in the facial nerve and this causes the nerve to not function properly. While Bell’s palsy affects men and women of all ages, it is more common between the ages of 15 and 60.2
Other causes of partial or total facial paralysis can include sarcoidosis, facial nerve palsy, trauma, infections such as mononucleosis, tumors, and Lyme disease. All conditions that lead to facial paralysis can cause one or both sides of the face to droop, the inability to close one or both eyes, dry eye, drooling, headache, tearing, loss of the sense of taste, tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and pain.
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