Comparison of the efficacy of prednisolone versus prednisolone and acyclovir in the treatment of bell's palsy

To compare the efficacy of 2 regimens of prednisolone versus prednisolone and acyclovir in the treatment of Bell's palsy. A retrospective study was performed on 496 Bell's palsy patients attending Yahyanejad Hospital, Babol, Iran from 1995 to 2004, divided in 2 groups. The first group was treated with regimen one [oral prednisolone], and the second group was treated with regimen 2 [oral prednisolone plus oral acyclovir] for 2 weeks. All cases were followed for 6 months. Two hundred and forty-eight cases [108 males, 140 females] were treated with regimen one, and 248 cases [113 males, 135 females], were treated with regimen 2. Both groups had a mean age of 20-39 years. At the end of therapy, the recovery rate with regimen 2 was 95.6% [237 patients], whereas regimen one showed a recovery rate of 91.2% [226 patients] [p=0.047]. This study showed acyclovir plus prednisolone to be more effective than prednisolone alone in the treatment of Bell's palsy