[Neonatal facial paralysis. Our experience apropos of 44 cases].

Forty-four cases of neonatal facial paralysis have been treated in the ENT department for children in the hôpital Trousseau, paris. In nearly half of the cases the etiology was related to nervous or muscular aplasia, while in the other cases of traumatic, infective, or doubtful etiology, the severity and course of the paralysis served as a guide to choice of therapy. Surgery was indicated in only 13 cases and recovery was obtained in 4 infants, with more or less marked sequelae. Prognosis is very poor in cases treated at a late stage, especially when the nerve appears to be greatly altered or compressed by callus. Surgical exploration should therefore be undertaken reasonably early (6 weeks to 2 months) when total paralysis persists or becomes worse after initial improvement.