Facial nerve paralysis

Partial or complete loss of facial mobility (facial nerve paralysis) is a burdensome problem for the person experiencing it, affecting facial expressions, speech, and food intake, especially in cases of incomplete lip closure. Causes are usually injuries and operations that affect the facial nerves, neurological disorders, or infections. There are cases of facial nerve paralysis with congenital origins as well as cases without identifiable causes.

Surgical treatment of permanent facial nerve paralysis may be static or dynamic, depending on the patient.
Static measures include the implantation of platinum or gold weights in the upper eyelids to improve eyelid closure and lifting the corner of the mouth on the paralyzed side using a fascia graft taken from the thigh.
Dynamic procedures that aim at restoring deliberate facial movements are achieved mainly by microsurgical transplantation of muscle tissue and supplying nerves from other parts of the patient’s body to the face. The implementation of static and dynamic, i.e. microsurgical, treatments of facial nerve paralysis is one of the focus areas of the Clinic of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the UKE.

Following an outpatient appointment or submission of medical findings, photos, and, if available, radiological images (CT or MRI), the necessity of surgery is discussed. For static corrective measures patients usually remain hospitalized for 2-7 days; after complex dynamic corrective measures, patients stay at the hospital for approximately 2-3 weeks.

Please direct your treatment request to the UKE International Office.