Clinical and non-clinical initial assessment of facial nerve paralysis: A qualitative review

This paper illustrates a brief review of some clinical and non-clinical methods to evaluate the facial nerve function in facial paralysis cases. A rigorous search of online databases such as IEEE, Springer, Elsevier, ACM digital library, Wiley online library, and Pub Med was conducted from January, 2012 to August, 2013 to discover and examine previous works on the field of facial treatment and rehabilitation. A brief introduction of facial nerve paralysis is provided. We examined the type of facial disorders, the number of subjects, and methods used to evaluate the facial nerve function. Different keywords were used to acquire the studies based on the desired criteria. A total of 80 articles were identified and were analysed for inclusion in this search. A brief discussion of both types of methods is presented. In conclusion, the review provides recommendations for further improvements.