Affected Muscles and Their Actions
Frontalis
- Action: Elevates the eyebrows
Orbicularis Oculi
- Action: Closes the eyelids
Platysma
- Action: Depresses the mandible, and pulls the corners of the lips.
Orbicularis oris
- Action: closes and protrudes lips
Buccinator
- Action: Compresses the cheek
Mechanism
The facial nerve is damaged by inflammation within the nerve causing it to become enlarged, at the point where the nerve exits the skull through the stylomastoid foramen. Ischemia occurs as the nerve swells in its bony canal, blocking neural blood supply.
Other Symptoms
- Drooping eyelid or difficulty closing one eye.
- Difficulty eating and drinking.
- Drooling
- Pain or sensitivity around the affected area.
- Loss of taste.