Risks

There are a number of risks associated with facial paralysis. It’s not just limited to the cosmetic appearance of an individual who’s been affected. Many times when people are unable to control the facial nerve or the facial muscles, they have an inability, for example, to close their eyes. When an individual cannot close their eyes, they’re at risk of drying the eye or causing an irreversible scarring of the eye itself. And this can lead to blindness. Some of the other risks of facial paralysis include the quality of speech. So if an individual is affected by facial paralysis, they can potentially slur their speech, their articulation is affected, they may be difficult to understand, and this can cause a lot of psychological distress for a patient.