Effects of a Facial Muscle Exercise Program including Facial Massage for Patients with Facial Palsy

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a facial muscle exercise program including facial massage on the facial muscle function, subjective symptoms related to paralysis and depression in patients with facial palsy. METHODS: This study was a quasi-experimental research with a non-equivalent control group non-synchronized design. Participants were 70 patients with facial palsy (experimental group 35, control group 35). For the experimental group, the facial muscular exercise program including facial massage was performed 20 minutes a day, 3 times a week for two weeks. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, χ²-test, Fisher's exact test and independent sample t-test with the SPSS 18.0 program. RESULTS: Facial muscular function of the experimental group improved significantly compared to the control group. There was no significant difference in symptoms related to paralysis between the experimental group and control group. The level of depression in the experimental group was significantly lower than the control group. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that a facial muscle exercise program including facial massage is an effective nursing intervention to improve facial muscle function and decrease depression in patients with facial palsy.

A Case of Endometrial Osseous Metaplasia / 대한산부인과학회잡지

The endometrial osseous metaplasia is one of a very rare conditions which gynecologists experience clinically. The characteristics of this disease are history of irregular menstruation, recurrent abortion, infertility with histopathologic evidence of chronic inflammation, and bone formation. This is one of heterotopia(the presence of mature tissue in abnormal location) histopathologically and it is important clinically that infertility can be brought about in the reproductive age women, but the etiology and treatment about this disease are unclear. A case of endometrial osseous metaplasia diagnosed by endometrial biopsy is presented with a brief review of the literatures.

Assessment of Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercise using Vaginal Cone in Stress Urinary Incontinence of Korea Women / 대한산부인과학회잡지

Defective or inadequate pelvic floor function is important etiologic factor for urinary stress incontinence and uterine prolapse. Pelvic floor muscle exercise is the mainstream of the nonoperative treatment for female stress urinary incontinence. Especially Vaginal cones have been known as a simple and practical means of improving both pelvic floor muscle strength and genuine stress incontinence using biofeedback mechanism. Forty adult women suffering from mild and moderate stress incontincnce were instructed to exercise their pelvic muscles using vaginal cones. They retained cones of increasing weight in the vagina by contracting pelvic floor muscles for 15 minutes twice a day for 4 weeks. The comparison of pelvic floor muscle function before and after the exercise were assessed by the frequency of incontinence, vaginal digital palpation, vaginal pressure measurement and speculm lift test. The results were as follows; 1. The frequency of incontinence was significantly reduced after the exercise using vaginal cone (P<0.001). 2. Vaginal digital palpation score (strength of vaginal levator muscle) was significantly increased after the exercise using vaginal cone (P<0.001). 3. The vaginal pressure by perineometer was significantly increased after the exercise using vaginal cones (P<0.001). 4. The vaginal lumen during contraction was significantly narrower after the exercise using vaginal cones (P<0.001). 5. The maximal cone weight which patients could hold over 1 minute was significantly increased after the exercise using vaginal cones (P<0.001).

A Case for Treatment of Precocious Pseudopuberty Associated with Follicular cyst / 대한산부인과학회잡지

Small follicular cysts are common findings in the ovaries of prepubertal girls, and in most cases, they are of no clinical importance. Ocassionally these cysts may enlarge and continue to produce estrogen, resulting in signs of precocious sexual development and vaginal bleeding. We have experienced a case of a precocious pseudopuberty causing ovarian follicular cyst which was treated by exploratory laparotomy. we present this case with a brief review of literatures

A Case of Hypogonadotrophic Hypogonadism due to Intrasellar Arachnoid Cyst / 대한산부인과학회잡지

Primary amenorrhea due to intrasella arachnoid cyst is a very rare disease and require careful and frequent evaluation because may produce intracranial hemorrhage, elevated intracranial pressure and rapid expansion. Surgical intervention is needed only when visual disturbance, hypopituitarism or enlarging lesion is shown. Thus, we present a case of primary amenorrhea due to intrasella arachnoid cyst which was resected through the transsphenoidal approach.