Causes, Symptoms and Methods of Treatment of Neuralgia of the Facial Nerve

1 Etiology of the disease

Neuritis or neuralgia of the facial nerve often develops under the influence of external factors.

A common cause is the hypothermia of the facial or occipital area. That is why the rise in morbidity is observed in the autumn and winter, when the streets are cold and windy.

In addition, the disease people are exposed to a long time under the draft. From the cold and drafts, a person on his face has a spasm in the vessels and muscles, which causes the breakdown of the facial nerve and the inflammatory process.

Another common cause of neuralgia is the effect of the herpes virus. The fact that the herpes virus is hidden in the body of many people, and absolutely healthy. But in a period when immunity decreases, the virus begins to become more active, affecting the fibers of the nerves and leading to inflammation. There are other viral diseases that lead to the disease:

• epidemic parotitis;
• poliomyelitis;
• enterovirus infections;
• adenovirus infections.

Other reasons leading to Bell's illness include the impact of high doses of alcohol, which leads to excessive intoxication of the body. Hypertension and stroke cause an increase in blood pressure, which leads to an increase in intracranial pressure and hemorrhage, which increases the pressure on the facial nerve.

The disease can develop from traumatic effects and compression by swelling, as happens with injuries, neoplasms. Neuralgia is often combined with ENT pathologies according to the type of otitis, sinusitis. Now consider what symptoms are with neuralgia of the facial nerve and its treatment.

2 Characteristics of

The onset of neuralgia is most often gradual, in most cases one side of the face suffers. With acute neuritis a few days before the appearance of the classic picture of the disease, there are problems with the facial expression of a person. There is pain behind the ear from the side of the inflammation, in the place where the nerve begins. Symptoms of pain are given to the back of the head, to the affected part of the face. Two days later, the damage to the eyeball develops in the form of pain, which is due to the swelling of the nerve due to inflammation.

The classic picture of neuritis is based on the asymmetry of the face, when looking at a person there is a feeling that he wears a mask. There are such signs:

• the lowered corner of a mouth from the struck side;
• wide opening of the eye;
• smoothes the nasolabial and frontal folds.

Asymmetry becomes apparent when the muscles move the face, that is, during conversations, crying or laughing. This is due to the fact that the conduction of nerve impulses is disturbed.

Among the characteristic for neuritis symptoms can be identified impossibility of closing the eye from the side of nerve damage, and when trying to close it the eyeball looks up.

In some cases, the patient has dry mouth, which makes a person always want to drink. And in other people suffering from neuritis, on the contrary, excessive salivation predominates. The same pattern is observed with lacrimation. Because of the violation of the innervation of the muscles of the face, the speech suffers, which becomes incoherent, at the time of food intake it can partially fall back.

In case of damage to taste buds, the taste function disappears in front of the tongue. In some cases, hearing is affected, that is, a person hears in one ear better than others. In each patient, the symptomatology manifests itself individually, depending on the neglect of the process and the presence of concomitant pathologies. Having analyzed what symptoms are characteristic for neuralgia of the facial nerve, let's move on to the methods of diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

3 Diagnostic measures

Diagnosis is made based on examination of the patient and collection of complaints. A consultation of a neurologist is mandatory. The neurologist will perform palpation of the active points, reveal a violation of muscle reflexes.

The main purpose of the survey is not only to diagnose neuritis, but also to identify its cause in order to prescribe an effective treatment. To exclude infection or chronic foci in the body, a person will have to pass blood tests, urine tests. Computer or magnetic resonance imaging is used to examine the nerve itself and the structure of the brain. Electro-neurology allows you to evaluate the functions of the nerves themselves.

For mild examinations and treatment, it is allowed to conduct outpatient visits, that is, optionally a person is hospitalized. In advanced cases, hospitalization may be required, since such a patient is often shown surgery.

4 Directions of therapy

Now it is necessary to consider the issue of how the neurosis of the facial nerve is treated. During the treatment period, it is necessary to observe a sparing regimen, that is not to expose yourself to overwork, hypothermia, to limit the use of alcoholic beverages. Often an attack of neuritis provokes stress, so special attention is paid to the psychoemotional state.

With conservative treatment, medications are prescribed to eliminate inflammation. These include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs:

• Nimesil;
• Ibuprofen;
• Diclofenac;
• Meloksikam.

It is often prescribed hormonal drugs from the group of glucocorticosteroids. To reduce puffiness is necessary to take diuretics. An important stage of treatment is getting rid of a viral or bacterial infection. In addition, you may need to take antispasmodics, neurotropic drugs, vitamins.

If the cause of neuritis is a serious injury that provokes squeezing or rupture of the nerve, then surgery is required. And also the operation is shown if for 8-10 months there is no effect from conservative therapy. An operation is performed for autotransplantation of the nerve, that is, the nerve is taken from the hip and transplanted to the facial nerve.

5 Therapeutic gymnastics

For better effect, the treatment of neuritis is supplemented with physiotherapy, massage. In the rehabilitation period, therapeutic exercise is prescribed to avoid muscle atrophy. Among the additional treatment methods, reflexotherapy and osteopathy are isolated. Patients are often recommended to take a course of sanatorium treatment.

To avoid relapses in the future and to restore the function of facial muscles, this scheme of therapeutic gymnastics for the face is prescribed:

1. Exercise No. 1 is to close the eyes for a maximum of 10 seconds, after which you need to rest a little and repeat the procedure 2-3 times.
2. Exercise No. 2 requires the patient to maximally frown eyebrows 7-10 times.
3. With the 3rd exercise, you need to raise both your eyebrows and eyelids simultaneously.
4. Exercise # 4 involves inflating and lifting the wings of the nose.
5. During exercise number 5, you need to smile a few times to open the lateral teeth.
6. The following method also affects the area of ​​the mouth, only it is necessary to compress the lips and try to stretch them as much as possible while simultaneously pronouncing the letter "AND".
7. Exercise number 7 is to perform circular movements of the tongue on the gum area for 30 seconds in each direction.

It is best to combine both the technique of therapeutic gymnastics and massage. Do it 1-2 times a day for 15 minutes. If necessary, the doctor will choose additional exercises exercise therapy.

Neuritis of the facial nerve, although not so common, but brings a lot of anxiety to the patient. The disease is dangerous to degeneration into a chronic form, constant progression. Of course, in order to avoid surgery, it is necessary to consult a doctor in case of symptoms and not to start ENT diseases.