Muscles Affected:
Frontalis: serves for facial expressions
Orbicularis oculi: closes the eyelids and assists in pumping the tears from the eye into the nasolacrimal duct system.
Orbicularis oris: control the shape and movements of the lips
Buccinator: maintains the tightness of the cheeks and presses them against the teeth during chewing
Platysma muscles: contribute to producing a myriad of facial expressions.
Mechanism of Muscle Weakness:
Bell palsy is the most common peripheral paralysis of the seventh cranial nerve with an onset that is rapid and unilateral. Damage to facial nerve is one of the most common reasons to the weakness and paralysis of muscles. During the Bell’s palsy one side of the face won’t function as it should do in normal situations.
Other symptoms:
Other symptoms of the patients includes difference in taste, sensitivity to sound, otalgia, and changes to tearing and salivation.
Reference:
Bell Palsy - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf. (n.d.). Retrieved September 23, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482290/