Facial Palsy

I was born with Facial Palsy, some might say that was unlucky.  I do believe that I am luckier than someone who has become a victim of Facial Palsy or Bell's Palsy in later life.  I am luckier because I have only ever known the face I have now and sometimes I have my moments, but on the whole I am fairly happy with it.

When I was born I was what was known as a "facial presentation" birth and I came out "face first" instead of "head first".  Had I been born in today's more modern world, rather than the spring of 1969, my mother would have had a caesarean and my problems would maybe never have occurred.  The doctors were never quite sure what happened to my face, they said I was the first person in the UK to have this happen without there being a specific reason for it, and possibly in the world.  Many people suffer from Bell's Palsy after head injury, stroke or for various other reasons, but there was no definite reason for this happening to me.  It wasn't the same as Bell's Palsy, my face didn't droop, and the doctors always referred to it as Facial Palsy and not Bell's Palsy.  I still don't really understand the difference between the two but this website is going to be a journey in which I hope to find out!

My early years were filled with numerous trips to Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge where I had to endure brain scans and various other tests.  The doctors did not rule out cerebral palsy until I was about 10 years of age.  My mother was so desperate to prove that I didn't have cerebral palsy that she pushed me to the limits developmentally, she wasn't going to let me be different to any other child the same age.

Although the doctors eventually decided that I didn't have "cerebral palsy", I never really got any answers as to why this had happened.  They decided that a nerve behind my ear must have been damaged when I came out "face first".

So what is it about me that is so different?  Well there are pros and cons of my situation so I will list them here.

The downside to my Facial Paralysis

• I can only shut one eye
• I can't show my teeth when I smile
• My smile is lop-sided
• I get a sore eye
• As I get older one side of my face is getting more wrinkled than the other
• It makes me different

The upside to my Facial Paralysis

• I can read out of my paralysed eye in strong sunlight because it won't squint or close
• I don't need to worry about food stuck in my teeth
• I don't need to worry about what my teeth look like
• I can wiggle one eyebrow (I don't tell people it's because I can't actually wiggle the other!)
• It makes me different