Reply To: Facial Paralysis

Just passed the three year mark and still have some lingering paralysis on the right of my face. I can close the eye now and things are greatly improved but definitely not normal. Not the feel, look or function. Still, VERY SLOWLY, it has improved. In fact, I occasionally have people remark that it’s looking better and I hadn’t noticed.

What I have done to date: facial exercises given to me in the rehab hospital; Bell’s Palsy exercises; exercises of my own devise; massage; trying to manipulate the right side of my face to match up with the left in front of a mirror; applied heat.

How much my efforts or just plain time and healing affected my improvements, I can’t say.

Re going out in public, I know from experience that you don’t want anyone to see you like that. I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t care now and people don’t show any negative reaction.

I’ve practiced in front of a mirror to form a smile that camouflages the ‘bad’ side of my mouth and my eye that doesn’t open fully. You might try that. Practice until you can do it without looking, so you know how it feels when you do it right. I have either numbness or no feeling on the right side but I can feel where the muscles bunch up. If you can’t get one side of your mouth to curl, perhaps a sexy crooked grin would work for you. Worth a try.