The Effectiveness of Facial Neuromuscular Retraining on Patients with Facial Nerve Dysfunction: A Mental Health and Quality of Life Analysis

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Background: Facial muscle dysfunction can have drastic psychosocial effects. Objectives: To evaluate the impacts of customized neuromuscular retraining on mental health, quality of life (QoL), facial muscle function, and synkinesis. Methods: Thirty patients with facial nerve dysfunction completed a course of neuromuscular retraining. Patients' mental health, QoL, facial muscle function, and synkinesis were evaluated using Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Facial Clinimetric Evaluation (FaCE) scale, electronic, clinician-graded facial function scale (eFACE), and Synkinesis Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) at the initial and final visits. Scores were compared before and after treatment. Results: Patients ( n = 30) included had a mean age of 59.4 ± 13.4 years (range 32.3–82.8) and were mostly female (22/30, 73.3%). The most common etiology was Iatrogenic facial nerve paralysis (11/20, 36.7%). Most patients had postfacial paralysis synkinesis (15/30, 50%), while 10 had complete flaccid paralysis. The median house-Brackmann score was 2 (range 1–6). The mean duration of facial palsy was 39.5 ± 106.9 (range 1–576 months). The duration of follow-up after the initial treatment session was 5.5 months, including 10 sessions. After neuromuscular retraining median PHQ-9 scores improved from 5 (range 0–25) to 3 (range 0–20) ( p = 0.002). Mean FaCE PROM scores increased from 47.7 ± 11.5 to 56.5 ± 8.8 ( p = 0.001). The mean eFACE score increased from 55.8 ± 15.1 to 71.7 ± 13.6 ( p < 0.001). Median SAQ score was lower at the final visit (34.6 ± 13.4) compared to the initial visit (47.7 ± 17.8; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Customized neuromuscular retraining may improve patient-reported mental health, QoL, and facial muscle function and reduce synkinesis in facial nerve dysfunction.

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