• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.99-103
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• 2024

Because facial nerve injuries affect the quality of life, leaving them untreated can have devastating effects. The number of patients with traumatic and iatrogenic facial nerve paralysis is considerably high. Early detection and prompt treatment during the acute injury phase are crucial, and immediate surgical treatment should be considered when complete facial nerve injury is suspected. Symptom underestimation by patients and clinical misdiagnosis may delay surgical intervention, which may negatively affect outcomes and in some cases, impair the recovery of the injured facial nerve. Here, we report two cases of facial nerve injury that were treated with nerve grafts during the subacute phase. In both cases, subacute facial nerve grafting achieved significant improvements. These cases highlight surgical intervention in the subacute phase using nerve grafts as an appropriate treatment for facial nerve injuries.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2024

The facial nerve stimulates the muscles of facial expression and the parasympathetic nerves of the face. Consequently, facial nerve paralysis can lead to facial asymmetry, deformation, and functional impairment. Facial nerve palsy is most commonly idiopathic, as with Bell palsy, but it can also result from a tumor or trauma. In this article, we discuss traumatic facial nerve injury. To identify the cause of the injury, it is important to first determine its location. The location and extent of the damage inform the treatment method, with options including primary repair, nerve graft, cross-face nerve graft, nerve crossover, and muscle transfer. Intracranial proximal facial nerve injuries present a challenge to surgical approaches due to the complexity of the temporal bone. Surgical intervention in these cases requires a collaborative approach between neurosurgery and otolaryngology, and nerve repair or grafting is difficult. This article describes the treatment of peripheral facial nerve injury. Primary repair generally offers the best prognosis. If primary repair is not feasible within 6 months of injury, nerve grafting should be attempted, and if more than 12 months have elapsed, functional muscle transfer should be performed. If the affected nerve cannot be utilized at that time, the contralateral facial nerve, ipsilateral masseter nerve, or hypoglossal nerve can serve as the donor nerve. Other accompanying symptoms, such as lagophthalmos or midface ptosis, must also be considered for the successful treatment of facial nerve injury.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.677-680
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• 2000

Orbital injuries are common with facial trauma. Direct injuries to the globe are not rare but it can result in complications such as chemosis, subconjunctival hemorrhage and hyphema. Periorbital trauma or injuries to the extraocular muscles and blow-out fracture may result in lid edema, ecchymosis & ptosis and diplopia or limitation of ocular motion respectively. Indirect injuries to the optic nerve come up without any injuries but its complication is irreversible and severe such as loss of vision. The aim of this study is to review the literature on blindness or ptosis following facial trauma and present the cases of blindness after facial trauma and ptosis after mandibular fracture without specific clinical findings.

• Archives of Hand and Microsurgery
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.306-312
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• 2018

The temporal branch of the facial nerve is particularly vulnerable to traumatic injuries due to its anatomic location, which often causes severe aesthetic and functional loss in the patient. Moreover, a chronic injury with nerve defect is more difficult to treat compared to acute injury, because it usually needs an additional procedure such as a nerve graft surgical procedure. This case shows a male patient who had a divided temporal branch of the facial nerve one month after an injury. We successfully grafted the split sural nerve and showed a good aesthetic, functional recovery for the patient.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.407-413
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• 1997

The soft tissue injuries of Oral & Maxillofacial region include abrasion, contusion, simple laceration, laceration of skin with underlying tissue, soft tissue injuries combined with facial bone fracture and involving functional structures such as facial nerve and vessel, orbit, lacrimal duct and salivary gland and so on. The results obtained were as follows ; 1. The age range was 1 to 97, and the highest incidence occured in the 3rd decade(23.4%), followed by the 1st decade(20.2%), 4th decade(18.1%), 4th decade(18.1), and 5th decade(14.3%) 2. The sexual ration was 4 : 1(M : F). 3. The most common cause of facial laceration was a accident(54.5), followed by blow(17.8%), traffic accident(15.9%) and unknown(10.8%). 4. The most frequently occurred site of injury was a forehead(24), followed by oral cavity(16.9%), lip(15%), eyebrow(14.5%), cheek(14%), chin(11.8%), nose(2%), scalp(1.4%) and neck(0.9%). 5. Most of wound size was less than 3cm in length. 6. 28 patients suffered facial bone fracture, representing 7%. 7. The major complications following facial laceration were infection and facial paralysis caused by facial nerve injuries, representing 4.5% and 1.9%.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.46-49
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• 2013

Facial deformity after nerve injury changes ones' social life. We experienced a few patients with healthy early recovery of muscle contraction after the operation with soft tissue wraparound splint. Under general anesthesia, exploration to find as many injured nerve stumps with ${\times}2.5$ loopes was undertaken at first. Interfascicular repair was done with minimal tension by 10-0 nylon under a microscope, and the suture site was sealed by approximating the surrounding fat flaps. This conjoined adipose tissue flap was a splint as a wraparound environment to reduce the tension in the coaptation site, and to increase the relative concentration of releasing neurotrophic factors by surrounding it. A 45-year-old man fell down in a drunken state and had deep laceration by broken flowerpot fragments with facial muscle weakness on the right cheek. His injured mandibular branches of the facial nerve were found. A 31-year-old female suffered from motionlessnesss of frontalis muscle after a traffic accident. She had four frontal branches injured. The man had his cheek with motion after seven days, and the woman two months after the operation. The nerve conduction test of the woman showed normalized values. Facial nerve repair surrounded by adipose tissue wraparound splint can make the recovery time relatively short.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical usefulness of magnetic resonance (MR) neurography using the 3-dimensional double-echo steady-state with water excitation (3D-DESS-WE) sequence for the preoperative delineation of the facial and lingual nerves. Materials and Methods: Patients underwent MR neurography for a tumor in the parotid gland area or lingual neuropathy from January 2020 to December 2021 were reviewed. Preoperative MR neurography using the 3D-DESS-WE sequence was evaluated. The visibility of the facial nerve and lingual nerve was scored on a 5-point scale, with poor visibility as 1 point and excellent as 5 points. The facial nerve course relative to the tumor was identified as superficial, deep, or encased. This was compared to the actual nerve course identified during surgery. The operative findings in lingual nerve surgery were also described. Results: Ten patients with parotid tumors and 3 patients with lingual neuropathy were included. Among 10 parotid tumor patients, 8 were diagnosed with benign tumors and 2 with malignant tumors. The median facial nerve visibility score was 4.5 points. The distribution of scores was as follows: 5 points in 5 cases, 4 points in 1 case, 3 points in 2 cases, and 2 points in 2 cases. The lingual nerve continuity score in the affected area was lower than in the unaffected area in all 3 patients. The average visibility score of the lingual nerve was 2.67 on the affected side and 4 on the unaffected side. Conclusion: This study confirmed that the preoperative localization of the facial and lingual nerves using MR neurography with the 3D-DESS-WE sequence was feasible and contributed to surgical planning for the parotid area and lingual nerve.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.501-509
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• 2022

Background Acute facial nerve iatrogenic or traumatic injury warrants rapid management with the goal of reestablishing nerve continuity within 72 hours. However, reconstructive efforts should be performed up to 12 months from the time of injury since facial musculature may still be viable and thus facial tone and function may be salvaged. Methods Data of all patients who underwent facial nerve repair following iatrogenic or traumatic injury were retrospectively collected and assessed. Paralysis etiology, demographics, operative data, postoperative course, and outcome were examined. Results Twenty patients underwent facial nerve repair during the years 2004 to 2019. Data were available for 16 of them. Iatrogenic injury was the common category (n = 13, 81%) with parotidectomy due to primary parotid gland malignancy being the common surgery (n = 7, 44%). Nerve repair was most commonly performed during the first 72 hours of injury (n = 12, 75%) and most of the patients underwent nerve graft repair (n = 15, 94%). Outcome was available for 12 patients, all of which remained with some degree of facial paresis. Six patients suffered from complete facial paralysis (50%) and three underwent secondary facial reanimation (25%). There were no major operative or postoperative complications. Conclusion Iatrogenic and traumatic facial nerve injuries are common etiologies of acquired facial paralysis. In such cases, immediate repair should be performed. For patients presenting with facial paralysis following previous surgery or trauma, nerve repair should be considered up to at least 6 months of injury. Longstanding paralysis is best treated with standard facial reanimation procedures.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.428-437
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• 1994

Optic nerve injury serious enough to result in blindness had been reported to occur in 3% of facial fractures. When blindness is immediate and complete, the prognosis for even partial recovery is poor. Progressive or incomplete visual loss may be ameliorated either by large dosage of steroid or by emergency optic nerve decompression, depending on the mechanism of injury, the degree of trauma to the optic canal, and the period of time that elapses between injury and medical intervention. We often miss initial assessment of visual function in management of facial fracture patients due to loss of consciousness, periorbital swelling and emergency situations. Delayed treatment of injuried optic nerve cause permanent blindness due to irreversible change of optic nerve. But by treating posttraumatic optic nerve injuries aggressively, usable vision can preserved in a number of patients. The following report concerns three who suffered visual loss due to optic nerve injury with no improvement after steroid therapy and/or optic nerve decompression surgery.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.131-138
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• 2013

Purpose: The aim of this study is to present a retrospective review of patients who had a sudden onset of facial palsy after trauma and who underwent facial nerve decompression. Methods: The cases of 25 patients who had traumatic facial palsy were reviewed. Facial nerve function was graded according to the House-Brackmann grading scale. According to facial nerve decompression, patients were categorized into the surgical (decompression) group, with 7 patients in the early decompression subgroup and 2 patients in the late decompression subgroup, and the conservative group(16 patients). Results: The facial nerve decompression group included 8 males and 1 female, aged 2 to 86 years old, with a mean age of 40.8. In early facial nerve decompression subgroup, facial palsy was H-B grade I to III in 6 cases (66.7%); H-B grade IV was observed in 1 case(11.1%). In late facial nerve decompression subgroup, 1 patient (11.1%) had no improvement, and the other patient(11.1%) improved to H-B grade III from H-B grade V. A comparison of patients who underwent surgery within 2 weeks to those who underwent surgery 2 weeks later did not show any significant difference in improvement of H-B grades (p>0.05). The conservative management group included 15 males and 1 female, aged 6 to 66 years old, with a mean age of 36. At the last follow up, 15 patients showed H-B grades of I to III(93.7%), and only 1 patient had an H-B grade of IV(6.3%). Conclusion: Generally, we assume that early facial nerve decompression can lead to some recovery from traumatic facial palsy, but a prospective controlled study should and will be prepared to compare of conservative treatment to late decompression.