What is Facial Palsy? How does it happen?
Facial palsy is a condition where the muscles of facial function and expression are paralysed due to injury or disease of the Facial nerve. It can cause difficulty in activities like blinking, smiling, eating, drinking.

Some of the common causes of Facial nerve palsy are:

• Direct injury due to trauma
• Benign and malignant tumours of the nerve sheath and surrounding structures.
• Surgical damage while operating on Parotid gland or other structures close to Facial nerve
• Intracranial haemorrhage, tumour.
• Compression due to tumours around the nerve.
• Stroke
• Unknown cause (Bell’s Palsy)

What are the investigations required for diagnosis?

• CT scan of Head
• MRI of Head
• EMG
• Nerve conduction studies

Which specialists are involved in the management of Facial palsy?
Facial palsy treatment at Sakra World Hospital is headed by a Consultant Plastic surgeon. Other core members of the team are Ophthalmologist, Oculoplastic surgeon, Speech therapist, Clinical psychologist and Physiotherapist.

What are the options for treatment of Facial Palsy?

• The treatment depends on multiple factors. The most important being the time since injury. If the patient presents to us within the first year of injury, it is possible to do a simple operation like the repair of the nerve primarily or with nerve grafts and nerve transfers.
• If the patient presents to us later (After 2 years of injury), other options like Labbe’s repair or Free functioning muscle transfer (Gracilis) are available.
• Your surgeon will have an in-depth discussion with you regarding the status of the injury and give you more details of exactly what surgery needs to be done for you in your consultation.

What is the role of physiotherapy?
Physiotherapy is one of the most important aspects of the treatment of Facial palsy. Physiotherapy is crucial before and after surgery to maintain the tone of the muscles. Some patients like Bell’s palsy patients or partial injury patients might only require physiotherapy alone. The department of physiotherapy and rehabilitation at Sakra World Hospital is one of the best departments in the country with dedicated physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech & language therapists to provide the best care for facial palsy patients.

Is Botox injection useful in Facial Palsy treatment?
Botox injection is a good option as an adjuvant in the treatment of facial palsy. It helps in correcting minor asymmetry and minor muscle activity irregularities. 

What options are there for eyelid problems in facial palsy?
Very early cases can be treated with the primary repair or nerve grafts or nerve transfer. But people who have had the issue for a long period of time like 2 years will have to undergo Gold weight insertion to the upper eyelid to help inadequate closure of the eyes. It is a daycare procedure, where specialized gold weights are implanted into the eyelids.

What are the goals of Facial Palsy treatment?
The main aim is to restore the function of the facial muscles. Most importantly the following two functions are important:

• Restoration of eye closure
• Restoration of smile
• What is the latest and most advanced treatment of Facial Palsy? Is it available at Sakra World Hospital?
• The latest and most advanced way to treat facial Palsy is to selectively restore the function of specific muscles that have lost innervation due to Facial palsy. It is called Highly selective neurotization or Super selective neurotization by super-microsurgical principles.

Our Consultant Plastic surgeons are highly trained in performing these procedures safely. Our physiotherapy department is also geared up fully to provide pre-op and post-op physiotherapy after such procedures