Introduction: Facial palsy is a condition where the patients lack voluntary movement on the affected side of the face and are not able to convey their emotions. Besides that, they also succumb themselves to social isolation. Various techniques have been devised to overcome this devastating problem. The aim of this article is to evaluate and compare facial muscle function before and after facial reanimation with temporalis muscle galea pedicled flap by motion mode echomyography in patients with long-standing facial paralysis.
Patients and methods: Ten patients with long-standing facial paralysis were included in the study (six patients with LMN palsy and four patients with facial weakness involving specific peripheral branches), and they subsequently underwent facial reanimation surgery with temporalis galea pedicled flap. These patients were followed postoperatively for a period of 1-2 years and were subjectively graded as excellent, good, fair and poor and objectively evaluated by M-mode echomyography, and the results were evaluated and statistically analyzed.
Results: Subjectively, out of 6 patients with LMN palsy, results were graded as excellent in 2 cases, good in 3 cases, fair in 1 case, and out of 4 patients with weakness in specific facial nerve branches, the subjective results were excellent in 2 cases, good in 1 case and fair in 1 case. Objectively, the effect of transposed temporalis galea on orbicularis occuli, levator labii superioris and orbicularis oris was found to be statistically significant in patients with LMN palsy.
Conclusion: Our study proves the versatility of temporalis muscle galea pedicled flap in cases of long-standing facial paralysis by motion mode echomyography.
Keywords: Facial paralysis; Reanimation; Temporalis galea.
© The Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons of India 2019.