'Everybody is watching me': A closer look at anxiety in people with facial palsy.

Objectives: Objectives were to evaluate the sociodemographic and disease-related factors, and coping style associated with social interaction and social appearance anxiety in people with unilateral facial palsy.

Methods: Medical data were extracted from electronic health records, and participants completed the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS), Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS), and Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced inventory. Associations of SIAS and SAAS scores with sociodemographic and disease variables, and coping were assessed with multiple linear regression.

Interpreting Quality-of-Life Questionnaires in Patients with Long-Standing Facial Palsy.

To interpret change in quality-of-life scores in facial palsy patients by calculating the smallest detectable change (SDC) and minimal important change (MIC) for the Facial Disability Index (FDI), Facial Clinimetric Evaluation (FaCE) scale, and Synkinesis Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ). The SDC, for individuals and groups, was calculated using previously collected test-retest data (2-week interval). The MIC (predictive modeling method) was calculated in a second similar facial palsy population using two measurements (1-1.

Quality of life before and after different treatment modalities in peripheral facial palsy: A systematic review.

Objectives: A systematic review was conducted to investigate the effect of peripheral facial palsy (PFP) on the quality of life (QoL). Secondly, we investigated if different treatment modalities influence the QoL of patients with PFP.

Methods: A multidatabase systematic literature search was performed using the following databases: PubMed, Embase, MEDLINE, and The Cochrane Library from the earliest date of each database up to August 2015.

Assessing psychological distress in patients with facial paralysis using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

Objectives: Anxiety and depression are seen among patients with facial paralysis (FP), but less is known about the exact prevalence. The aim of the current study is to assess the prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders in the FP population and to investigate possible differences between patients with left- and right-sided FP.

Methods: Fifty-nine patients with FP and 59 healthy individuals were included in this study between March and December of 2014.

Synkinesis assessment in facial palsy: validation of the Dutch Synkinesis Assessment Questionnaire.

The objective of this study is to validate an existing health-related quality of life questionnaire for patients with synkinesis in facial palsy for implementation in the Dutch language and culture. The Synkinesis Assessment Questionnaire was translated into the Dutch language using a forward-backward translation method. A pilot test with the translated questionnaire was performed in 10 patients with facial palsy and 10 normal subjects.

The Dilator Naris Muscle as a Reporter of Facial Nerve Regeneration in a Rat Model.

Objective: Many investigators study facial nerve regeneration using the rat whisker pad model, although widely standardized outcomes measures of facial nerve regeneration in the rodent have not yet been developed. The intrinsic whisker pad "sling" muscles producing whisker protraction, situated at the base of each individual whisker, are extremely small and difficult to study en bloc. Here, we compare the functional innervation of 2 potential reporter muscles for whisker pad innervation: the dilator naris (DN) and the levator labii superioris (LLS), to characterize facial nerve regeneration.

Quality of life assessment in facial palsy: validation of the Dutch Facial Clinimetric Evaluation Scale.

This study aimed at validating an existing health-related quality of life questionnaire for patients with facial palsy for implementation in the Dutch language and culture. The Facial Clinimetric Evaluation Scale was translated into the Dutch language using a forward-backward translation method. A pilot test with the translated questionnaire was performed in 10 patients with facial palsy and 10 normal subjects.

Rat whisker movement after facial nerve lesion: evidence for autonomic contraction of skeletal muscle.

Vibrissal whisking is often employed to track facial nerve regeneration in rats; however, we have observed similar degrees of whisking recovery after facial nerve transection with or without repair. We hypothesized that the source of non-facial nerve-mediated whisker movement after chronic denervation was from autonomic, cholinergic axons traveling within the infraorbital branch of the trigeminal nerve (ION). Rats underwent unilateral facial nerve transection with repair (N=7) or resection without repair (N=11).

Whisking recovery after automated mechanical stimulation during facial nerve regeneration.

IMPORTANCE Recovery from facial nerve transection is typically poor, but daily mechanical stimulation of the face in rats has been reported to remarkably enhance functional recovery after facial nerve transection and suture repair. This phenomenon needs additional investigation because of its important clinical implications. OBJECTIVE To determine whether automated mechanical stimulation of the whisker pad improves whisking recovery after facial nerve transection and repair in a rat model.

Functional recovery after facial nerve cable grafting in a rodent model.

Importance: Cable grafting is widely considered to be the preferred alternative to primary repair of the injured facial nerve; however, quantitative comparison of the 2 techniques has not been previously undertaken in a rodent model.

Objective: To establish functional recovery parameters after interposition autografting in a rodent facial nerve model.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Prospective randomized animal study at a tertiary care facial nerve center using 16 female Wistar Hannover rats.

Computer-assisted assessment of ocular synkinesis: a comparison of methods.

Objectives/hypothesis: To define an objective, easy to perform, rapid method for the assessment of ocular synkinesis by employing both the Facial Assessment by Computer Evaluation software and a modification of the Glasgow Facial Palsy Scale.

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Methods: Fifty normal subjects and 50 patients with known ocular synkinesis were studied.

Facial nerve repair: fibrin adhesive coaptation versus epineurial suture repair in a rodent model.

Objectives/hypothesis: Repair of the transected facial nerve has traditionally been accomplished with microsurgical neurorrhaphy; however, fibrin adhesive coaptation (FAC) of peripheral nerves has become increasingly popular over the past decade. We compared functional recovery following suture neurorrhaphy to FAC in a rodent facial nerve model.

Study Design: Prospective, randomized animal study.