Bell's palsy treated with photobiomodulation in an adolescent: Rare case report and review of the published literature.
BACKGROUND
Bell's palsy represents a peripheral unilateral facial nerve paralysis, being an acute, idiopathic disorder, which can affect children and adolescents. Some therapeutic approaches have been proposed including facial exercises, biofeedback, photobiomodulation, electrotherapy, massage, and thermotherapy. The present report documents a rare case of Bell's palsy in an adolescent successfully treated with a new protocol of photobiomodulation, consisting of a short-term treatment.


CASE REPORT
A 13-year-old girl presented absence of facial movement on the right side when smiling, inability to close the right eye and to raise the right eyebrow, intense painful symptoms on the right side of the face, difficult in chewing and talking, and sialorrhea. She was diagnosed with an idiopathic facial paralysis or Bell's palsy associated with right masseter myalgia, and treated with three sessions of photobiomodulation using infrared laser, 100 mW output power, 100 J/cm2 of energy density, 28 seconds per point, applied at the origin and insertion of the right superficial masseter muscle. The patient presented complete regression of paralysis, improvement of speech and chewing, and absence of muscular pain.


CONCLUSION
Photobiomodulation was effective to treat Bell's palsy in a pediatric patient, being a true noninvasive approach and with no side effects, although there is still no established definitive protocol.
['Poloni|Marina Miranda|MM|', 'Marques|Nelson Pereira|NP|', 'Ribeiro Junior|Noé Vital|NV|', 'Sperandio|Felipe Fornias|FF|', 'Hanemann|João Adolfo Costa|JAC|', 'de Carli|Marina Lara|ML|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1133-6242']
D000293:Adolescent D020330:Bell Palsy D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007259:Infrared Rays D053685:Laser Therapy D028022:Low-Level Light Therapy D008406:Masseter Muscle D009068:Movement D010146:Pain D012798:Sialorrhea D016896:Treatment Outcome
adolescent Bell palsy photobiomodulation therapy