A cousin from my hometown suddenly called me at five o'clock in the morning, sounding very anxious, saying that he woke up to find his mouth crooked and drooling, his eyebrows were high and low, his eyes did not seem to be closed, and he took a picture and sent it to me. His biggest worry is that he will not have a stroke at a young age, and he usually has no high blood pressure, so how can he have a stroke without warning. After listening to his narration and looking at the photos taken, I estimated that he should have had facial paralysis, for the sake of safety, I suggested that he go to the doctor quickly, and do a brain CT, go to the local hospital for examination, and sure enough, he suffered from facial paralysis.
What is facial paralysis?
Generalized facial palsy includes central facial palsy and peripheral facial palsy. Central facial paralysis refers to facial palsy caused by cranial brain disease, usually with crooked corners of the mouth and even limb hemiplegia. We are talking about peripheral facial paralysis today. Peripheral facial paralysis, also known as facial nerve palsy, facial neuritis, is a facial muscle paralysis caused by non-specific inflammation of the facial nerves in the foramen of the stem. Facial nerve palsy onset is acute, multi-unilateral onset, mainly manifested as facial expression muscle paralysis, loss of frontal streaks, inability to wrinkle the forehead and eyebrows, eyes can not be closed or incompletely closed, corners of the mouth are crooked, some patients have 1-2 days before the onset of the disease there is persistent pain in the back of the ear and mastoid tenderness (the bulging part of the back of the ear).
Spring is the season of high incidence of facial paralysis
Facial paralysis occurs throughout the year, but spring is the season of high incidence of facial paralysis. The reason is that the climate is changeable in early spring, alternating hot and cold, the virus is active, once the patient is overly tired, emotional fluctuations, irregular life and rest, the body will have a decline in immunity, and those latent viruses will begin to wait for opportunities to move, infringing on facial nerves, thus causing facial paralysis. In addition, facial paralysis may also be induced if the face is irritated by excessive cold for a long time or if heavy alcohol is consumed.
Some people think that facial paralysis is a small problem, and it can be better if it is raised at home without treatment. Indeed, facial paralysis has a certain degree of self-healing, some patients with better physique and milder symptoms can also heal themselves without treatment, but there will also be nearly 30% of patients who will leave facial muscle spasms and other sequelae, which seriously affects daily life, so it should be active and treated as soon as possible. For patients with early facial paralysis, most of them advocate drug (antiviral, vegetative nerve) and Traditional Chinese medicine (acupuncture, physiotherapy, manual massage) treatment. After treatment, symptoms can generally improve in about 2 weeks, and after active treatment, there are no sequelae.
Some elderly people with a history of hypertension and arteriosclerosis think that it is a stroke when the corners of the mouth are crooked, but in fact, the key differentiating point between central facial palsy caused by stroke and peripheral facial palsy is to see if there is an eye dysfunction. Stroke is not accompanied by ocular dysfunction, but may involve limb hemiplegia. That is to say, if the corners of the mouth are crooked, and you can't frown, frown, close your eyes, and have no limb hemiplegia, and your mental state is good, it is basically peripheral facial paralysis, not stroke. At this time, there is no need to be too nervous, and you can get recovery through acupuncture and other treatments in time.