ACTIVITY 4
Patient AM, who is a 28-year-old male was having a hard time speaking, the left side of his face droops, and he cannot move his left face despite being conscious, having no comorbidities, and having normal blood pressure. After seeking medical help, he was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy, a condition where half of the face is paralyzed due to damage and weakening of the facial (VII) nerve, that controls facial muscle. The cause of Bell's palsy could be associated with the compression of the seventh cranial nerve at the area of the geniculate ganglion. Most compression occurs in the labyrinthine portion as this is the narrowest. As a result, inflammation leads to nerve compression and ischemia, which causes facial paralysis. In short, Bell's palsy results from inflammation in the immune system of the body against the nerve that regulates facial movement. The common symptoms of Bell's palsy are face sagging, unable to furrow their brow, close their eyes, or pucker their lips. However, a headache, loss of the sense of taste in two-thirds of their tongue, and hypersensitivity to sound in the affected ear could also be symptoms.
The five muscles that are affected when a person has a Bell's palsy are:
1. Corrugator supercilii
Action: It enables us to draw our eyes inferiorly and wrinkles of forehead vertically as in frowning.
2. Orbicularis oculi
Action: Closes the eyes.
3. Orbicularis oris
Action: Closes and protrudes the lips (like kissing), it also compresses the lips against teeth and shapes the lips during speech.
4. Buccinator
Action: Presses the cheeks against the teeth and lips like whistling or blowing, it also draws corner of mouth laterally, and assist in chewing (mastication) by keeping food between the teeth.
5. Zygomatic major
Action: Draws the mouth angle superiorly and laterally, like smiling.
References
Warner, M. J., Hutchison, J., & Varacallo, M. (2020). Bell’s Palsy. PubMed; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482290/
Tortora, G. J., Derrickson, B., Burkett, B., Peoples, G., Dye, D., Cooke, J., Diversi, T., McKean, M., Samalia, L., & Mellifont, R. (2022). Principles of anatomy and physiology (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.
Johns Hopkins Medicine. (2019). Bell’s Palsy. Johns Hopkins Medicine. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/bells-palsy