Your patient recently had a viral infection and now she cannot move the muscles on the right side of her face. In addition, she is experiencing a loss of taste and dry mouth and she cannot close her right eye. Which cranial nerves have been affected by the viral infection?
The signs experienced by the patient, which are paralysis of the muscles on the right side of the face, loss of taste, dry mouth, and non-closure of the right eye, all point out to Bell’s Palsy. Bell’s Palsy is a condition that causes temporary paralysis of a side of the face, making the face droop on that one side. The cranial nerve affected by the viral infection (which caused inflammation and swelling to said nerve) is cranial nerve VII, also known as the Facial Nerve.