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Bell’s Palsy is a condition that occurs suddenly. It usually progresses over the first 3 days that you would notice it and the things that you notice is weakness on one side of the face. Typically, you notice that weakness from the top of the face all the way down (meaning it includes the forehead, includes the midface, includes the lower face.) Some people might feel like they can’t swallow as well, they can’t close their eye as well, they start to develop dryness. In addition, because it involves a facial nerve, you can have an effect on the nerve that travels through the ear, down to the tongue, and you can get a difference in sensation or tastes around your tongue. Typically over the course of about 3 days, you would notice it worsening and it can continue to worsen over the course of about a week. A patient or a person who is not in the medical field will not know if they have Bell’s Palsy or not. They can only see that they’re developing weakness on one side of the face or both sides of the face. If that happens, you go straight to the emergency room and you seek diagnosis from the physician who’s in the emergency room. You can also be treated by a neurologist, or you can be treated by an ear, nose, and throat doctor. Those are the 3 main types of doctors who treat Bell’s Palsy. Bell’s Palsy specifically only affects one side of the face. It is defined as an acute onset, idiopathic unilateral facial paralysis.
