The facial nerve contributes to the oropharyngeal phase of deglutition via the buccinator, perioral, digastricus posterior, and stylohyoid muscles. The gustatory and salivatory functions of the facial nerve are also known to contribute to swallowing. The relation between peripheral facial nerve palsy (PFP) and swallowing dysfunction has never been studied systematically. Forty four patients wit...

Introduction If denervation occurs in facial nerve palsy, muscle atrophy and irreversible loss of function sets in. For the leg muscles paraplegics, surface electrostimulation has been shown to stop reverse these processes. Whether this is also applicable mimic muscles, going be explored study.

BACKGROUND Data on incidence of facial palsy is generally lacking in Nigeria. OBJECTIVE To assess six years' incidence of facial palsy in Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital (MMSH), Kano, Nigeria. METHOD The records of patients diagnosed as facial problems between January 2000 and December 2005 were scrutinized. Data on diagnosis, age, sex, side affected, occupation and causes were obtaine...

A magnetic stimulator was used for direct transcutaneous stimulation of the intracranial portion of the facial nerve in 15 normal subjects and in patients with Bell's palsy, demyelinating neuropathy, traumatic facial palsy and pontine glioma. Compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs) thus elicited in the orbicularis oris muscle of controls were of similar amplitude but longer latency (1.3 SD 0....

The extracellular matrix (EM) has various important functions. The basement membrane, which is part of the EM, has major components such as type IV collagen (C-IV), laminin, and heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG). The basement membrane controls osmosis of various molecules, as well as the approach of growth factors, hormones, and neurotransmitters, etc. to the cellular surface. Thus, in this s...

Middle ear barotrauma is one of the common complications of SCUBA diving representing acute otalgia, hearing loss, and bleeding. But occurrence of facial palsy is rare. Here we report a case of a 30-year-old navy diver suffered middle ear barotrauma with transient facial palsy after SCUBA diving. He felt difficulty in equalizing the pressure in middle ear with Valsalva maneuver during diving, a...

Clinical presentation of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is varied and often mimics many neurological disorders, making it a diagnostic challenge, and cranial nerve palsy in CVST is rare and its pathophysiology remains unclear. We report a case of a 19-year-old male with a history of whiplash injury, admitted with extensive CVST, developed right facial nerve palsy with extension of thro...

Bell's palsy, which is defined as idiopathic peripheral facial paralysis of sudden onset, accounts for > 50% of all cases of facial paralysis. Different theories on the etiology of Bell's palsy have been proposed and investigated. Various clinical studies have suggested an etiological link between Bell's palsy and herpes simplex virus (HSV). In addition, animal experiments have shown the abilit...

We report two infants presenting with unilateral congenital facial palsy since birth. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in both the cases revealed complete unilateral aplasia of facial nerve. To our knowledge, this is the first reported MR depiction of nonsyndromic isolated facial nerve aplasia. Imaging features and the pertinent anatomy is discussed along with a brief review of literature.