Newly diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy

A Message To Anyone Newly Diagnosed With Bell’s Palsy

If you have recently been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, we understand how frightening and distressing it can be. Waking up unable to close your eye, smile, or move one side of your face is a shock and it is completely natural to want to do something, anything, to speed up recovery.

It is because of the natural wish to speed up recovery that we are sharing this important information.

What the evidence tells us about Bell’s palsy recovery

The majority of people with Bell’s palsy – around 70-85% – will recover naturally, without any specialist intervention beyond the corticosteroids prescribed by their GP in the early days. Recovery can take weeks or months, and the process is often gradual and non-linear. This can make it very hard to know what, if anything, is helping.

This natural recovery pattern is important to understand, because it can unfortunately lead to incorrect claims about cures and treatments.

If you are amongst the small minority who do not improve, then re-referral to a medical professional is recommended.

A pattern we are increasingly seeing

Facial Palsy UK has become aware of a growing number of private practitioners – including some facial therapists, physiotherapists, acupuncturists, nurse practitioners, and beauty therapists – who are marketing treatments specifically for Bell’s palsy and facial palsy. Many use before-and-after photographs as evidence that their treatment worked.

In our opinion what those photographs almost certainly show is natural recovery.

When a patient is treated shortly after diagnosis and then recovers over the following weeks and months, it is not possible to conclude that the treatment caused the recovery. In the vast majority of cases, that recovery would have happened anyway. This is a well-known problem in healthcare known as post hoc reasoning – assuming that because something happened after a treatment, it must have happened because of it.

This does not mean these practitioners are always acting in bad faith. Some genuinely believe their treatments help. But belief is not evidence – and in the absence of robust clinical trials, patients are paying significant sums of money for treatments that have not been proven to make a difference.

What is actually evidence-based

The following approaches are supported by current evidence:

• Corticosteroids (e.g. prednisolone)* prescribed promptly by a GP, ideally within 72 hours of onset, are the only treatment shown to improve outcomes.
• Anti-viral medication is only indicated for those suspected to have Ramsay Hunt syndrome which presents with severe pain and sometimes a rash or ulcer in or around the ear, mouth or throat.
• Eye protection – lubricating drops, eye ointment at night, and sometimes taping the eye closed – to prevent corneal damage if you cannot blink fully.
• Gentle self-massage of the affected facial muscles, which is safe, free, and can support comfort and awareness of movement.
• Facial neuromuscular retraining with a specialist physiotherapist or speech and language therapist, which may help in cases of incomplete or prolonged recovery – but should be guided by a practitioner experienced specifically in facial palsy

Our advice

We understand anyone’s need to do something and explore options with Bell’s palsy, but we would ask you to:

• Be cautious of before-and-after photographs used to promote treatments for Bell’s palsy – they are not evidence that the treatment worked.
• Ask any practitioner what specific evidence exists for their treatment in facial palsy, beyond individual case studies or testimonials.
• Avoid paying large sums for unproven treatments during the acute phase, when natural recovery is most likely.
• Contact us if you are unsure – we can help point you towards your most local NHS practitioners with expertise in facial palsy

* High-quality, Level 1 clinical evidence strongly supports the use of early corticosteroid therapy, such as prednisolone, as the first-line medical intervention for adults experiencing acute Bell’s palsy. Extensive clinical data, including major randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews, demonstrates that initiating oral prednisolone within 72 hours of symptom onset significantly increases the likelihood of complete facial nerve recovery and reduces long-term complications.

Approved by Facial Palsy UK Medical Advisory Board 12 October 2026