Low Level Laser Therapy (Lllt) for Facial Palsy Patients

Abstract

Facial nerve palsy is one of the most frequent cranial neuropathies among disorders of the 12 cranial nerves. Since this nerve runs along the temporal bone and spreads to the superficial part of the face, the facial nerve can be easily affected by injury or physical pressure, or inflammation. Among those affected patients we have come across, Bell's palsy was frequently noted when the patients had an upper respiratory tract infection, or when they felt fatigue or exposed to stress. In many cases, we could not find the exact causes. The facial nerves control the facial expression muscles, and therefore the face in affected patients becomes asymmetrical. Especially among female patients, they are not satisfied by the conventional treatment from a cosmetic point of view. The present study was designed to investigate the treatment efficacy of Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) for Bell's palsy. Subjects and Methods Twenty-three consecutive cases with Bell's palsy were enrolled in the present study who visited either the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, or Department of Neurology our university hospital between April 2002 to March 2006. They underwent 2 weeks of steroid administration before attending the Department of Rehabilitation. All cases were in the subacute or chronic stage. Twelve patients were female, and 11 were male. The age distribution ranged from 21 to 82 years, with an average of 51.7. There were 10 cases with right side facial palsy, and 13 with facial palsy of the left side (Table 1). We used a 1 watt semiconductor laser device (Fig. 1, MDL2001, Matsushita Electric Corporation, Tokyo, Japan), the specifications of which are seen in Table 2. The area over the stellate ganglion was irradiated with the laser for 30 seconds per shot, giving a radiant flux of 20.1 J/cm 2. Three shots 135

The Use of Phototherapy for Bell’s Palsy

“…The electronic search and screening of titles and abstracts identified nine potentially relevant studies; they were retrieved and considered for inclusion [52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. Of these studies, five satisfied the eligibility criteria and were included in the review [52][53][54][55][56].…”