Every year when summer comes, all kinds of news about facial paralysis caused by prolonged fan or air conditioner blowing will appear in major media, scaring many of our friends to even dare not to turn on the air conditioner and fan.

So what exactly is facial paralysis? Why do people develop facial paralysis? Can air conditioners and fans still be turned on whenever you want?

01 Is facial paralysis an expressionless face?

In recent years, we often see many actors with poor acting skills (such as those who play the high-cool boss), netizens commented as “face paralyzed” performance, it seems that face paralyzed is another name for expressionless face.

What many people don’t realize is that although the expressionless look in everyday life is often referred to as “facial paralysis”, there is a big difference between it and true facial paralysis.

Facial nerve deformity & typical manifestations in patients with facial paralysis

So what exactly are the signs of true facial paralysis?

The answer to this question begins with the definition of facial paralysis.

Facial palsy is a condition called idiopathic facial nerve palsy, also known as Bell palsy, which is a type of peripheral facial nerve paralysis caused by non-specific facial neuritis.

The facial nerve, which emanates from the brain, innervates all facial muscles except the levator palpebrae and masticatory muscles, and regulates the secretion of the lacrimal, sublingual, and submandibular glands, as well as plays an important role in the production of taste and some facial sensations.

The vast majority of facial nerve paralysis only involves one side of the facial nerve, and rarely has a bilateral onset. Therefore, facial paralysis patients with paralysis of one side of the expression muscles usually have symptoms such as crooked corners of the mouth, leakage of wind in their speech, salivation, and sometimes accompanied by pain in the face, behind the ear, and inside the ear.

Therefore, facial paralysis is not an expressionless face, on the contrary, an overly exaggerated and distorted expression is the most common manifestation of facial paralysis.

02 Who should take the blame for facial paralysis?

Although facial paralysis is not life-threatening, it can seriously affect aesthetics. Moreover, due to the paralysis of facial muscles, daily activities such as eating and talking cannot be carried out normally, which is a heavy blow to the patient’s physical and mental health.

So, why do people have facial paralysis?

So far, the medical profession has not identified the exact cause of facial paralysis. Many people believe that the disease is caused by the invasion of the facial nerve by the neurophagic virus, which leads to edema of the nerve, resulting in paralysis of the facial nerve under localized compression, while some people believe that the onset of facial paralysis is related to the patient’s own immune response.

As for the argument that behaviors such as prolonged blowing of fans and air conditioners, washing hair without blow-drying, and sudden exposure to cold can lead to facial paralysis, although many people in our lives are convinced of this, there is no clear evidence to show that there is a direct correlation between facial paralysis and these factors, and there is no obvious seasonal change in the onset of facial paralysis, so there is no conclusion that facial paralysis is more likely to occur in the summer.

Reports of pyrexia, again a popular summer story

So in order to “prevent” facial paralysis, the top of the heat warning also insisted on not turning on the air conditioning is completely unnecessary, not only may not be able to play a preventive effect, once because of the long time to stay in the high temperature environment suffering from pyrexia, on the contrary, there is also the possibility of triggering the failure of multiple organ systems, encountering life-threatening.

03 How should facial paralysis be prevented?

The incidence of facial paralysis in the population is about two in 10,000, and it is found in all age groups, with males in their 20s and 40s being the most common.

Most people with facial nerve palsy will start to recover on their own within 1-2 weeks after the onset of the disease, even without any treatment, and it usually takes only a few weeks or months for the condition to return to almost normal.

However, there is a small percentage of patients who do not fully recover from facial paralysis symptoms for life, and may be left with sequelae such as loss of taste, paroxysmal facial muscle spasm, or even permanent loss of normal motor function of some facial muscles.

In this era where everyone is becoming more and more image-conscious, there is a possibility that you will remain with a crooked eye and drooling mouth for the rest of your life, which is scarier than a ghost story.

So, are there any methods that are effective in the prevention and treatment of facial paralysis?

Unfortunately, since the pathogenesis of facial paralysis is not clear, we cannot target the prevention of facial paralysis, but can only try to avoid possible triggers of facial paralysis such as infections, trauma, and emotional disorders based on clinical experience.

There is also a lack of targeted specific drugs and therapies for facial paralysis. We can only provide routine nutritional nerve support, as well as anti-inflammatory and anti-infective treatments, with a view to alleviating the symptoms of facial nerve paralysis and accelerating the healing of facial paralysis.

Physical therapies such as massage and acupuncture, which have become popular in recent years, may also have some therapeutic effects in eliminating localized nerve inflammation and promoting the recovery of facial nerve function in patients with facial paralysis, but these are also only at the empirical level, and there is a lack of support from the literature and research results.

We really know very little about facial paralysis, and with the current relevant results and literature, the cool air from air conditioners and fans is not the root cause of facial paralysis, so we don’t have to be afraid of blowing wind.

Of course, we should not be overly greedy for cold, after all, in this hot summer, because blowing the wind and catching a cold is also a very difficult thing!