Bell’s palsy is a temporary condition where the facial nerve which is also known as cranial nerve VII paralyses due to either trauma or damage causing difficulty in controlling the facial muscles on the side affected. Facial paralysis can be caused by diseases such as stroke, brain, Lyme and other related diseases. Bell’s palsy therefore occurs when there is no specific cause identified to term it as facial paralysis.

From 1774 to 1842 in Edinburgh, Scotland, there was a surgeon and accomplished artist known as Sir Charles Bell. He is known to have come up with anatomic diagrams which he published. This condition was named after him hence Bell’s palsy. It has been discovered that five out of one hundred thousand persons in a year develop it. Age is seen to be a factor in which the incidence is seen to increase direct proportionally.

Bell’s palsy’s cause is explained using different theories but what most people prefer is the inciting event at the viral that stimulates inflammation and edema in the nerve that leads to nerve damage and infarction. The common viral infections that are commonly connected with Bell’s palsy are influenza, herpes or Epstein-Barr. Overholt (1995) also states that the other dimension to look at it is the entrapment that occurs in the fallopian tube has high probability to be the reason for ischemic injury to the facial nerve.

Mayo Clinic staff (2008) gives more examples of signs and symptoms of Bell’s palsy that includes facial droop and difficulty with facial expressions, sounds seeming louder and pain in front or behind the ear on the affected side, headache, changes in production amount of saliva and tears produced by the body. Symptoms are known to vary from one person to another hence a range in how severe these cases may be. For example, a mild case would experience less serious signs unlike a chronic case. Other symptoms include; weakness, dryness of the eye or mouth, impairment of taste, difficulty in eating or drinking, dizziness and twitching.

There are three things that are used as basis for diagnosis of Bell’s palsy and these are the physical examination findings, results of laboratory tests and history. If looked at physically and carefully, the side that is affected on the face is weak and the eye can hardly be closed completely. In some cases the forehead might be spared and this is not necessarily a sign of Bell’s palsy but a sign of central facial paralysis. When suffering from this disease, there are some normal day to day personal activities that one might not manage to perform for instance; the patient might experience difficulty while whistling and flattening of naso-labial fold. The test made could be either for herpes virus, Lyme disease or any another kind of infection. Other imaging tests that can be used include computed tomography scans, X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging which are used to check inside the body incase there could be other problems.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (2003) states that Bell’s palsy does not have a standard way of treatment or any cure but the factor that has to be considered during treatment is elimination of the nerve damage. Just as in the symptoms, individuals are seen to be affected differently and that is why treatment is given separately. For a mild case, the symptoms are seen to vanish in two weeks hence no need for medication while it’s otherwise for the chronic cases because besides medication, they might be given therapeutic options. Another effective treatment for Bell’s palsy are steroids, acyclovir which is used to combat viral infections and reduction of swelling and inflammation by use of the steroid prednisone.

Some of the Bell’s palsy symptoms are painful hence the need to use pain killers or analgesics to relieve pain. Examples of these include ibuprofen and aspirin. Bell’s palsy has been seen to have the ability of disrupting the natural way of blinking of the eyelids which definitely makes the eye to be vulnerable to drying and irritation. Eye protection should therefore be one of the most important treatments because it affects a very sensitive part of the body. This can be done through wetting the eyes every time and most importantly at night. Things that could be used to help moisturize the eyes are; eye ointments and patches.