This headline caught my attention, because I’m a believer in the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (especially mild HBOT), but also because I have had Bells Palsy.

What is Bells Palsy?

Bell's palsy is a form of temporary facial paralysis resulting from damage or trauma to one of the two facial nerves. It is the most common cause of facial paralysis. Generally, Bell's palsy affects only one of the paired facial nerves and one side of the face, however, in rare cases, it can affect both sides. Symptoms of Bell's palsy usually begin suddenly and reach their peak within 48 hours. Symptoms range in severity from mild weakness to total paralysis and may include twitching, weakness, or paralysis, drooping eyelid or corner of the mouth, drooling, dry eye or mouth, impairment of taste, and excessive tearing in the eye. Bell’s palsy often causes significant facial distortion. Most scientists believe that a viral infection such as viral meningitis or the common cold sore virus -- herpes simplex-- causes the disorder when the facial nerve swells and becomes inflamed in reaction to the infection.

Bell’s Palsy occurs in about 1 out of every 5,000 people. It occurs about equally between male and female and doesn’t necessarily occur in any age group higher than others (although some research indicates that women in late stages of pregnancy are at a slightly greater risk).
I know four people (myself included) who have had Bells Palsy. All the websites say that the recovery rate (when the facial paralysis returns to a normal state) is about 50% within the first few weeks, and about 35% more recover in the next 18 months after that. Yet…out of the four I know; two didn’t recover.

I was one of the lucky ones. My paralysis occurred 5 days before school started when I was going into the 7th grade. I went to bed one evening with a slight headache and a fever and awoke the next morning with the left side of my face paralyzed. I didn’t even know anything was wrong until my family greeted me with gasps at the breakfast table. Over the next 48 hours the paralysis set in to the point that I could not close my eye, nor stop my nose from dripping constantly. I could not move that side of my mouth or make any facial expression.

My mother was beside herself. The man who owned the grocery in our small town had never recovered from his facial paralysis that occurred when he was a teenager, and she suspected the same for me. She rushed me to the doctor that very day. The doctor, oddly enough, had just read a journal article on Bells Palsy recommending that prednisone would aid in the recovery if administered early enough. (How progressive was that for 1974!) So we started that day. I had been elected a junior high cheerleader that spring and the next several months were incredibly difficult for me socially and emotionally…but by the end of the school year my face had nearly recovered.

I lost the dimple on that side of my face, and my eyelid droops when I’m tired. But if you met me today, you wouldn’t suspect a thing.
I have a friend though, about my age, whose onset occurred when she was just out of college. She didn’t go to the doctor for several days, and she hasn’t recovered.

Then, one morning not too many years ago, I got a phone call from a good friend whose roommate had awoken not able to move one side of her face. My friend had no idea about my Bells Palsy. But I knew right away what was happening. Off to the doctor for this young woman, who received prednisone and fully recovered in weeks.

So, the headline of the research article caught my eye. Seems that 95.2% of patients treated with HBOT and 75.7% of subjects treated with prednisone recovered completely. The average time to complete the recovery in the HBOT group was 22 days as opposed to 34.4 days in the other group.

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