Overcoming Bell's Palsy
posted 03/17/03

PITTSBURGH (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Each year, 40,000 Americans find themselves unable to move a portion of their face. This type of paralysis is called Bell's palsy. It can affect anyone, but those who are pregnant, diabetic or who have an upper respiratory illness are more likely to develop it. Once it goes away -- it's often not the end.

Smiling and having fun used to come easily to Beverly Petrovay. That all changed one morning. "One day I woke up and I was having my tea in the morning and I noticed I was drooling and I thought, 'What -- am I not awake?'" she says.

It turned out she had bell's palsy.

Petrovay says, "[It affected] my mouth, eye, and I had a little bit of droopiness here."

The condition causes facial paralysis. It can often be treated, but patients are sometimes left with a condition called synkinesis -- or unwanted motion.

Surgeon Ernest Manders, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center says: "For instance, one might see a pattern where, when closing the eye, the corner of the mouth goes up like. So for every blink, for some of these patients, they get a twitch at the corner of the mouth."

Dr. Manders demonstrates how electrodes help during therapy. He also uses botox injections to relax other muscles. In a study of nine patients, all said the treatment was a great help and six needed only one injection and considered themselves cured.

"This is truly happiness in medicine. I wish everything were as successful, quite honestly. This is a wonderful thing to be part of," says Dr. Manders.

Petrovay improved greatly, but still has some problems to overcome. At least now she can do her therapy at home.

With or without treatment, most patients begin to improve within two weeks, and about 80 percent recover completely within a few months. For some, the symptoms may last longer. In a few cases, symptoms may never completely disappear or patients will be permanently left with synkinesis.