[Therapy of idiopathic facial nerve paralysis]

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of the time of onset of therapy with cortisone, antirheumatics and diuretics with respect to successful prevention of secondary lesions by compression of the nerve fibres. Onset of therapy was considered to be "in time" on all cases with incomplete facial paralysis without appearance of electromyographic signs of denervation within the subsequent three days. The results are based on 90 patients with follow-up examination out of a total of 130 patients treated. 94% of the patients thus treated "in time" showed full or almost complete remission. Only 59% of those patients in whom the therapy was not initiated "in time" showed satisfactory results. It may be concluded that the therapy of an idiopathic facial paralysis should commence at the very first clinical signs. The differing therapeutic results reported in the literature are in part due to the problem of the sufficiently early onset of therapy.