Acupuncture and Facial Paralysis

A female, age 40, visited me in October 2003 with right side of her face suddenly paralyzed when she woke up in the morning. She said she was exposed to cold weather before it happened. She also complained that she had abnormal taste and numbness on the front of her tongue for two days, soreness around the right ear, and tenderness in the mostoidale region.

She wasn’t able to lift up her right cheeks. Facial buccal region was relaxed and strengthless. The sense of taste was lost, but the sense of hearing was hypersensitive. Examination found that the mouth and eye were wry. The eyes could not be closed entirely; there was no movement on her forehead, and she had difficulty in frowning.

She visited a doctor in order to exclude the possibility of it being a fatal disease such as facial tumour, wind stroke, auto-immune problems etc. Before she came to visit me the doctor told her that it could take 3 – 6 months to recover 70% and that there may be some complications left. She was very worried and depressed.

I gave her a few acupuncture treatments combined with Chinese herbal medicine. On the fifth day of onset, her face started to recover – she could lift up her right cheek. The right side of her facial muscle felt strengthened, and her eyelid started to move. After another week of acupuncture treatment, her symptoms had an 85% recovery, and three weeks after the first onset of symptoms, her face had recovered 95%.

She recovered fully in less than four weeks without any complication.