ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Facial palsy in children is uncommon, but not rare. Most patients with facial palsy are idiopathic, as in Bell's palsy. Nevertheless, other more serious causes should be carefully excluded before Bell's palsy is diagnosed. We tried to characterize the causes, treatment methods, and the recovery rate of facial palsy in children. SUBJCETS AND METHOD: Between January 1986 and July 2005, we examined 157 patients who presented with facial palsy in Kyunghee University Hospital. The patients' ages ranged from 0 to 15. RESULTS: The highest age groups were children in their school period. The causes of facial palsy in children were in the order of following frequences : Bell's palsy (66.2%), infection (14.6%), trauma (13.4%), birth trauma (3.2%), leukemia (1.3%), facial burn (0.6%), iatrogenic (0.6%). Treatment methods according to causes were steroid, antiviral, antibiotics, acupuncture, myringotomy, facial nerve decompression, and nerve graft. The recovery rate was 93.1% in Bell's palsy, 100% in birth trauma, 100% in acute otitis media, 83.3% in herpes zoster oticus, 33.3% in temporal bone fracture, and 50% in cerebral contusion. CONCLUSION: Facial palsy in children results from variable causes in the order of Bell's palsy (66.2%), infection (14.6%), trauma (13.4%), birth trauma (3.2%), leukemia (1.3%), facial burn (0.6%), and iatrogenic (0.6%). There were variable treatment methods according to different causes and many of the children had acupuncture. Facial palsy caused by birth trauma and acute otitis media had satisfactory recovery rates in all cases, whereas Bell's palsy patients showed 93.1% satisfactory recovery and trauma patients 33.3%.