CONTRACTURE OCCURRING IN PARTIAL RECOVERY FROM PARALYSIS OF THE FACIAL NERVE AND OTHER NERVES

Abstract

The occurrence of contracture in incomplete recovery from facial paralysis is well known, but so far as the writer is aware a satisfactory explanation of this contracture has not been offered. Gowers states that the cause of the late over-action and spasm is probably a change in the functional state of the cells of the nucleus of the nerve, produced by their altered functional condition during the complete paralysis—but, once established, permanent. Oppenheim likewise attributes the late manifestations of facial paralysis to irritation of the facial nucleus. The most satisfactory explanation of the late facial spasmodic tic and of the late associated movements in the facial supply on the paralyzed side is to be found, in the opinion of the writer, in the abnormal condition which occurs in regeneration of the facial nerve. Such phenomena are never seen when the paralysis remains complete nor when recovery is