Activity 4
This is patient AM, 28-year-old male who came in the ER because of drooping of his left face. He said he woke up and he could not move his left face.
He has no other muscle weakness. He is conscious and coherent although he had a little difficulty speaking because the left side of his lips drooped. He had normal blood pressure and he had no other co-morbidities. He was diagnosed to have Bell’s palsy.
1. Name 5 muscles which are affected and list its actions.
- Buccinator - Presses cheeks against teeth and lips, as in whistling, blowing, and sucking; draws corner of mouth laterally; and assists in mastication (chewing) by keeping food between the teeth (and not between teeth and cheeks).
- Platysma - Draws outer part of lower lip inferiorly and posteriorly as in pouting; depresses mandible.
- Orbicularis Oculi - Closes eye.
- Orbicularis Oris - Closes and protrudes lips, as in kissing; compresses lips against teeth; and shapes lips during speech.
- Occipitofrontalis - Draws scalp anteriorly, raises eyebrows, and wrinkles skin of forehead
2. Describe the mechanism of his muscle weakness.
According to the Cleveland Clinic (2023), Bell’s Pallsy, also called as the acute peripheral facial palsy, is a condition around the facial muscles wherein it experiences temporary paralysis. This usually only affects one side of the face wherein a person can experience the following common symptoms: (1) drooping of eyebrows, (2) closing of eyelids, (3) sagging of the mouth’s corner, (4) and other facial conditions. The condition occurs when the seventh cranial nerve experiences inflammation at the geniculate ganglion (Warner et al., 2023). It is also said that the swelling of the facial canal can cause compression and ischemia of the nerve.
3. What other symptoms could the patient ehibit as a result of facial muscle weakness?
- Difficulty in eating/chewing food
- Difficulty in talking
- Drooping eyelids
- Facial or nasal twitching
- Headache
- Potential loss of taste
Reference:
Bell’s palsy - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic. (2022, May 4). Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bells-palsy/symptoms-causes/syc-20370028
Cleveland Clinic. (2023, August 14). Bell’s Palsy. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/5457-bells-palsy
Tortora, G. J., & Derrickson, B. H. (2017). Tortora’s Principles of Anatomy & Physiology. Wiley. https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=aSaVDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PR1&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q&f=false
Warner, M. J., Hutchison, J., & Varacallo, M. (2023). Bell palsy. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482290/