Causes

The causes of Bell’s Palsy are currently unknown. We believe that there is some relationship to the herpes simplex virus family. This has not been proven. We have seen that in patients with Bell’s Palsy, they do test positive for it. However, there’s no correlation between the two at this time – so we’re not sure. We just know that it’s caused by some inflammation around the nerve. We do not know if any of the viruses cause Bell’s Palsy. Specifically, the herpes simplex family of viruses has been shown to cause problems with the facial nerve. However, these are more consistently shown with different syndromes such as Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, which is slightly different than Bell’s Palsy.