Editing Bell's palsy (section)

==Prognosis==
Most people with Bell's palsy start to regain normal facial function within three weeks—even those who do not receive treatment.<ref>{{cite web| vauthors = Karnath B |title=Bell Palsy: Updated Guideline for Treatment|url=http://www.consultant360.com/article/bell-palsy-updated-guideline-treatment|work=Consultant|date=14 February 2013|publisher=HMP Communications|access-date=April 3, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130225095629/http://www.consultant360.com/article/bell-palsy-updated-guideline-treatment|archive-date=February 25, 2013}}</ref> In a 1982 study, when no treatment was available, of 1,011 patients, 85% showed first signs of recovery within three weeks after onset. For the other 15%, recovery occurred 3–6 months later.

After a follow-up of at least one year or until restoration, complete recovery had occurred in more than two-thirds (71%) of all patients. Recovery was judged moderate in 12% and poor in only 4% of patients.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Peitersen E | title = The natural history of Bell's palsy | journal = The American Journal of Otology | volume = 4 | issue = 2 | pages = 107–11 | date = October 1982 | pmid = 7148998 }} quoted in {{cite journal | vauthors = Roob G, Fazekas F, Hartung HP | title = Peripheral facial palsy: etiology, diagnosis and treatment | journal = European Neurology | volume = 41 | issue = 1 | pages = 3–9 | date = January 1999 | pmid = 9885321 | doi = 10.1159/000007990 | url = http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?typ=fulltext&file=ene41003 | url-status = live | s2cid = 46877391 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090713152309/http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?typ=fulltext&file=ene41003 | archive-date = 2009-07-13 }}</ref> Another study found that incomplete palsies disappear entirely, nearly always in one month. The patients who regain movement within the first two weeks nearly always remit entirely. When remission does not occur until the third week or later, a significantly greater part of the patients develop [[sequela]]e.<ref name="Act Otol 1966">{{cite journal | vauthors = Peitersen E, Andersen P | title = Spontaneous course of 220 peripheral non-traumatic facial palsies | journal = Acta Oto-Laryngologica | volume = 63 | pages = 296–300 | date = June 1966 | pmid = 6011525 | doi = 10.3109/00016486709123595 }}</ref> A third study found a better prognosis for young patients, aged below 10 years old, while the patients over 61 years old presented a worse prognosis.<ref name=Kasse/>

Major possible complications of the condition are chronic loss of taste ([[ageusia]]), chronic facial [[spasm]], facial pain, and corneal infections. Another complication can occur in case of incomplete or erroneous regeneration of the damaged facial nerve. The nerve can be thought of as a bundle of smaller individual nerve connections that branch out to their proper destinations. During regrowth, nerves are generally able to track the original path to the right destination—but some nerves may sidetrack leading to a condition known as [[synkinesis]]. For instance, the regrowth of nerves controlling muscles attached to the eye may sidetrack and also regrow connections reaching the muscles of the mouth. In this way, the movement of one also affects the other. For example, when the person closes the eye, the corner of the mouth lifts involuntarily.

Around 9% of people have some sort of ongoing problems after Bell's palsy, typically the synkinesis already discussed, or spasm, contracture, [[tinnitus]], or hearing loss during facial movement or crocodile-tear syndrome.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Yamamoto E, Nishimura H, Hirono Y | title = Occurrence of sequelae in Bell's palsy | journal = Acta Oto-Laryngologica. Supplementum | volume = 446 | pages = 93–96 | year = 1988 | pmid = 3166596 | doi = 10.3109/00016488709121848 }}</ref> This is also called gustatolacrimal reflex or [[Bogorad's syndrome]] and results in shedding tears while eating. This is thought to be due to [[synkinesis|faulty regeneration]] of the facial nerve, a branch of which controls the lacrimal and salivary glands. Gustatorial sweating can also occur.