List of causes

There are many different causes of facial paralysis and it can be present at birth or occur at any other time throughout a person’s life. Here we list some of the many causes of facial paralysis:

Congenital facial palsy is where facial paralysis is present at birth. Sometimes the facial nerves and/or muscles fail to develop properly in the womb, or the facial palsy may be caused by rare developmental syndromes or conditions. Facial palsy can also be caused by trauma to the facial nerve during delivery.

• Isolated congenital facial palsy
• Asymmetric crying facies (ACF)

• Moebius syndrome
• Hemifacial microsomia
  • Goldenhaar syndrome
  • Branchial arch syndrome
• CHARGE syndrome
• Branchio-oto-renal syndrome (BOR)
• Myhre syndrome (some child with this syndrome also have facial palsy)

• Trauma to nerve at birth

• Bell’s palsy

• Ramsay Hunt syndrome
• Lyme disease
• Meningitis/encephalitis
• Poliomyelitis
• Syphilis
• Leprosy

Tumours

• Tumours around origin of facial nerve, e.g. Vestibular schwannoma (also known as acoustic neuroma), Brainstem tumour, Meningioma, Metastatic lesions.
• Cholesteatoma
• Endolymphatic sac tumour
• Facial nerve tumour (facial nerve neuroma/schwannoma)
• Invasive skin tumour, e.g. Squamous cell carcinoma.
• Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2)
• Paraganglioma
• Parotid tumour (salivary gland), e.g. pleomorphic adenoma.
• Pilocytic astrocytoma
• Posterior fossa syndrome
• Rhabdomyosarcoma
• Teratoma

Vascular masses

• Arteriovenous malformation
• Carotid artery aneurysm
• Cavernoma
• Collection of blood (haematoma)
• Glomus jugulare tumour
• Haemangioma
• Temporal arteritis

Swelling from infection

• Otitis media and otitis externa
• Mastoiditis

Bony masses

• Osteopetrosis

Others

• Barotrauma (diving and flying)
• Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome

• Facioscapulohumeral MD
• Myotonic dystrophy

• Stroke

• Brown-Vialetto-Van Laere syndrome (BVVL)
• Charcot Marie Tooth disease
• Guillain-Barré syndrome
• Miller-Fisher syndrome
• Multiple sclerosis
• Neuralgic amyotrophy

• Trauma to nerve at birth
• Head injury
  • Stab wounds
  • Temporal bone fractures
• Injury during surgery

• Sarcoidosis
• Myasthenia gravis

• Acute porphyria
• Amyloidosis
• Lattice corneal dystrophy type II