Facial neurosis: symptoms, causes, treatment

Facial neurosis, also called Bell palsy, is a disease that manifests itself as a weakening or complete paralysis of part of the facial muscles caused by inflammation of the facial nerve. All this leads to the fact that a person cannot eat, speak, sleep normally and generally looks repulsive. And if you remember that a person is an organ of social significance, then you need to solve this problem as quickly as possible.

Despite the fact that you can diagnose this disease simply by examining the patient’s face, a thorough examination is necessary to treat the pathology, including the use of instrumental research methods.

Causes of facial neurosis

The primary causes of inflammation of the facial nerve are hypothermia or the virus. They cause swelling of the soft tissues around the nerve, followed by compression. This condition is especially dangerous near the temporal bone, near the exit of the facial nerve.

Secondary causes of facial neurosis are various ailments leading to this condition - tumors, vascular diseases, physical damage to the soft tissues of the face, mumps, inflammation of the inner ear, Hunt and Melkerssson – Rosenthal syndromes. Usually a neurosis affects only one side of the face. Bilateral inflammation is extremely rare.

Signs of the onset of neurosis

The sooner it is possible to notice a neurosis, the higher the chances of its successful treatment, so a person should pay attention to the following symptoms:

1. There is an obsessive pain behind the ear.
2. 3-5 days after the first symptom of facial neurosis, complete or partial muscle paralysis occurs - a person cannot close his eyes or feels his mouth corner down.
3. Lacrimation is disrupted on the affected side of the face - tears are either a lot or a little.
4. Paralysis affects the oral cavity, sensitivity to the taste of food disappears, salivation is disturbed.
5. Over time, paralysis progresses, and the muscles of half the face stop responding at all.
6. The sensitivity of the ear on the affected side of the head increases.
7. If paralysis is caused by neuroma, then the hearing, on the contrary, sharply worsens.
8. When paralysis accompanies mumps, then all the signs of this disease occur - an increase in body temperature, an increase in lymph nodes, swelling of the neck, and general well-being worsens.

Diagnosis of neurosis

For the treatment of facial neurosis, it is not enough to state its presence. The main thing at the same time is to determine what it came from and direct the therapy to eliminate paralysis and the pathology that caused it. For this, a number of diagnostic measures are being taken.

First, the doctor determines how many facial muscles are paralyzed and how deep. To do this, he asks the patient to make a series of facial expressions - smile, close-open his eyes, raise-lower his eyebrows, frown, move his lips. Secondly, the patient is questioned to find out what diseases he has had recently, in what conditions he lives and works. This helps determine the cause of the disease. After that, the patient is sent for magnetic resonance imaging of the head in order to identify the focus of inflammation.

Pathology treatment

Treatment of facial neurosis is carried out in a hospital or at home. It depends on the severity of the disease and the general condition of the patient. If paralysis is caused by otitis or mumps, it is best to undergo comprehensive treatment in a hospital setting.

Drug treatment of facial neurosis includes taking a number of drugs that act on various body systems.

1. To relieve edema, Prednisolone or Dexamethasone are used. This is a necessary measure in the first place so that the nerve does not die out completely.
2. To restore the blood supply to the soft tissues of the face, Pentoxifyline or nicotinic acid is used.
3. To relieve pain, the patient is prescribed some kind of analgesic.
4. Nerve conduction is restored by Galantamine, Proserinum, or Neuromidine.
5. Symptoms and treatment of facial neurosis lead to the course of taking vitamins B ₆ and B ₁₂ . These trace elements strengthen the nerve tissue and the entire immune system as a whole.
6. A muscle spasm is relieved by sedatives prescribed individually.
7. If trauma caused paralysis of the facial nerve, plastic surgery is performed to restore the vessels and nerve tissues.
8. Viral infection is suppressed by antiviral drugs.

Only a doctor can know how to treat facial neurosis in a given situation. Self-treatment is usually ineffective and can lead to a worsening of the situation.

Physiotherapy

In any photo of facial neurosis, it can be seen that the person’s face turns into a repulsive mask. In order for it to recover quickly, in addition to conservative therapy, therapeutic gymnastics for the face is necessarily used.

It must be carried out at least 2 times a day. You need to do it in front of the mirror to see the dynamics of muscle movement, adjusting the exercises.

1. Need to frown.
2. Move with eyebrows.
3. Squeeze and open your eyes.
4. Extend your lips with a tube and rotate them in a circle, first in one direction, then in the other.
5. Stick out your tongue as far as possible and twist it in a circle.
6. Puff out your cheeks.
7. Smile broadly.
8. Say the whole alphabet, articulating with lips.

For each exercise you need to take 15-20 seconds.

Physiotherapy

For faster recovery, physiotherapy is recommended. During this procedure, the drug is applied to the electrodes, which are then pressed to the patient’s skin, and an electric current of low voltage and force is passed through them.

This makes the drug molecules penetrate the intercellular space of the skin and enter directly into the blood.

The drugs used in this situation are Trental, Hydrocortisone, Eeufillin, Proserin.

Acupuncture is sometimes referred to as physiotherapeutic treatment methods. But this method refers more likely to the placebo effect - if a person believes in its effectiveness, then he will definitely help him. Conversely, if a person is skeptical of this method, then there will be no effect from such treatment.

Massotherapy

Medical massage has shown very high efficiency in the treatment of facial neurosis. Indeed, during the procedure, blood circulation in the head and in the face is restored, swelling of the soft tissues is removed and the muscles relax.

Usually, the massage therapist begins the procedure by rubbing and kneading the collar of the neck, then moves to the back of the head and only then to the front of the head. This technique allows blood to slowly rise to the head without the risk of increased intracranial pressure.

Therapy of facial neurosis involves 5 to 10 sessions of therapeutic massage. Then you need to take a break for 30 days and after that you can resume the procedure, if necessary.

Treatment with folk remedies

Treatment of neurosis is not complete without traditional medicine. But it must be admitted that their effectiveness is increased several times in conjunction with traditional therapy. That is, the patient should take medications along with decoctions and infusions and regularly do gymnastics for the face.

Only in this case, the treatment will end in complete recovery.

For the treatment of neurosis, tincture on hawthorn, motherwort, peony and calendula flowers is usually used. All components of the collection should be in equal shares. Brew it as tea - 1 tbsp. a collection spoon of 0.5 liters of boiling water. Insist at least 1 hour.

During therapeutic facial massage, you need to use fir oil, which is gently rubbed into the skin.

Sometimes a compress of oil mixed with finely chopped wormwood helps. It must be applied precisely to the affected area.

Good help tincture on rose petals. It is brewed in the ratio of 1 tbsp. a spoonful of flowers per 0.5 liters of water. You can take 100 g 3 times a day half an hour before meals.

It is believed that the mummy helps well from facial neurosis. It must be stirred in milk and drunk. One dose of the drug does not exceed 0.2 g, since it is very effective. If it is not possible to get a mummy, you can use propolis for the same purpose and in the same way.

Prevention

For the prevention of the disease, several rules must be observed. In the cold season, you need to protect your face from hypothermia, wear a hat or at least a hood.

With a cold or other viral diseases, you do not need to hope that everything goes away on your own - you must definitely undergo the full course of treatment prescribed by your doctor.

To strengthen health and immunity, you need to engage in winter hardening and sports. A healthy lifestyle will help prevent many different diseases. It is better to get rid of bad habits, because both alcohol and smoking poison the human body, destroying its circulatory and nervous system.

In general, the prognosis for the timely treatment of facial neurosis is positive. More than 70% of all patients with this diagnosis are completely cured. The main thing in this disease is to seek medical help on time, because delay and self-medication are dangerous. The sooner treatment begins, the greater the chance of a full recovery. Any unpleasant symptoms should alert the person - this is an occasion to consult a doctor.