Facial Paralysis & Botulinum Toxin

Each year 25 out of 100,000 individuals are diagnosed with a condition called Bell’s palsy. This disorder makes up for 75 percent of the total incidents of facial paralysis- a number that cannot be ignored by any account.

The causes of facial paralysis are different and the treatment of each case is sorely dependent on the cause of the paralysis.

Factors range from brain tumors to infections and strokes and recovery from the condition is often prolonged. Plastic surgery has made a lot of advances towards treating facial paralysis with help from various face surgery techniques.

Last year surgeons in the U.S. discovered a new method to partially re-animate the faces of long-term facial paralysis patients. The tendon transfer technique or the ‘smile surgery’ was found to improve facial symmetry along with allowing the patient to smile properly by severing a muscle and joining it with the tendons in the affected area.

Controlled administrations of Botulinum toxin or botox are also considered an excellent face surgery method for patients suffering from this disorder. The technique made headway when researchers found that a combination of Botox and facial exercises could reorganize those parts of the brain responsible for facial mobility.

Research is still on for treating facial paralysis though and each day new discoveries and studies turn up rays of hope for those patients suffering from a severe case. Visit the Plastic Surgery Institute of California for more help with face lift surgery.