Biofeedback rehabilitation for prevention of synkinesis after facial palsy.

OBJECTIVE

We developed a new training method of biofeedback rehabilitation for the prevention of synkinesis after facial palsy and evaluated the efficacy of the training.

METHODS

Twenty-seven patients with complete facial palsy were divided randomly into 2 groups. Twelve of the patients were treated with the training method, and the other 15 patients served as controls. Patients were instructed to keep their eyes open symmetrically during mouth movements using a mirror. Thirty minutes of daily training was continued for a period of 10 months. The degree of synkinesis was evaluated by computing the percent asymmetry of eye opening width.

RESULTS

The percent asymmetry of eye opening width was significantly greater in the training group than in the control group (P < 0.05). The results indicate that the degree of synkinesis is much less in the training group than in the control group.

CONCLUSION

Our new training method is very effective for preventing the development of synkinesis after facial palsy.