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Updated: Sep 5, 2025

Single-stage Dynamic Reanimation of the Smile in Irreversible Facial Paralysis by Free Functional Muscle Transfer
Published on: March 1, 2015
Pattern of facial nerve palsy during parotidectomy: a single-center experience
Abdulwahid M Salih1,2, Hiwa O Baba1,3, Yadgar A Saeed4
1Smart Health Tower, Madam Mitterrand Street, Sulaimani, Kurdistan, Iraq.
Objective:
This study was performed to report and analyze the prevalence of permanent facial nerve paralysis following parotidectomy for various benign and malignant lesions in a single center.
Methods:
This single-center retrospective study included all patients who underwent parotidectomy (total and superficial) for benign and malignant tumors and chronic inflammatory diseases during a 6-year period. Patients who had previously undergone an operation of the parotid gland and those with preoperative facial weakness were excluded.
Results:
The study included 127 patients ranging in age from 14 to 83 years (median, 45.89 years). Most patients were female (n = 83, 65.4%). The most prevalent procedure was superficial parotidectomy (n = 117, 92.1%), followed by total parotidectomy (n = 6, 4.7%). The average operative duration was 138 minutes (range, 80-400 minutes). Histopathology revealed that 109 (85.8%) patients had benign tumors, 14 (11.0%) had malignant tumors, and 4 (3.1%) had chronic sialadenitis. Only two patients sustained an injury to the cervical branch of the facial nerve.
Conclusion:
In this single-center experience of parotid surgery, the rates of transient and permanent facial paralysis were acceptably low at 9.0% and 1.6%, respectively, for all pathologies.
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