Facial nerve palsy in childhood

Facial Nerve Paralysis in Children

“…A congenital facial nerve paralysis, although other cranial nerves such as the Ⅲ, Ⅳ, Ⅴ, Ⅷ can be involved, is presented within the Möbius syndrome. The reported prevalence of this syndrome is about 1/150000 live births [9][10][11][12] . It is reported to be due to hypoplasia of the motor nuclei of the cranial nerves within the brainstem, probably due to a hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy [10] .…”

“…Genetic causes of facial nerve paralysis includes hereditary myopathies, such as myotonic dystrophy and myasthenia. Also two loci responsible for isolated hereditary forms of facial paralysis (chromosome 3q21-22 and 10q21.3-22.1) have been identified [9,10,13] . Acquired facial paralysis can frequently be due to viral infections.…”

“…Acquired facial paralysis can frequently be due to viral infections. The reactivation of Herpes Varicella-Zoster [9,11,14] . Not frequently, a bilateral facial nerve palsy may be the onset of a Epstein-Barr virus, Haemophilus influenza, tuberculosis or Borrelia burgdorferi infection.…”

“…Not frequently, a bilateral facial nerve palsy may be the onset of a Epstein-Barr virus, Haemophilus influenza, tuberculosis or Borrelia burgdorferi infection. Lyme disease has become the most common cause of acute facial paralysis in children in those areas where Borrelia Burgdorferi infection is endemic [9,15] . Other agents that may cause facial nerve palsy in children are cytomegalovirus, adenovirus, rubella, mumps, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and HIV [3,13] .…”

“…Other inflammatory diseases such as vasculitis and Henoch-Schönlein porpora or Kawasaki syndrome can also occur with facial nerve palsy [9] . Rarely, in children, facial nerve paralysis can be due to tumors such as schwannomas or hemangiomas of the seventh nerve or bone tumors such as rhabdomyosarcoma and histiocytosis.…”