Pictures of Facial Palsy

Close up pictures of the Eyes showing how they are affected by Facial Paralysis

The left eye (the one on the right of the picture) is paralysed.  The inner rim of the lower eyelid is thinner than the other eye and you can see more white under the iris.

You can see from the good eye that the eye closure is fairly relaxed, the eye on the right of the picture does not close and there is a lot of white showing.

In this picture you can see from the good eye that the good eye is being closed as firmly as possible.  The left eye has closed a little further but there is still a lot of white showing.

The fact that the eye does not close completely means that dust particles tend to fly in the paralysed eye easily.  The blinking process cleans the eye so the paralysed eye is not being cleansed properly and it tends to dry out.  At night while asleep the eye is unprotected and can be damaged during sleep if it comes into contact with anything.  Some doctors recommend taping the eye down at night but this is not very comfortable as it is not a natural feeling for a paralysed eye to be completely closed.