Facial neuritis following after COVID-19 vaccination : Case report and Literature review

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Facial neuritis is a disease of the nervous system, characterized by shallowing or disappearing wrinkles of the frontalis muscle, incomplete eyelid closure, shallowing nasolabial groove, skewing mouth angle, showing teeth to the healthy side, and skewing mouth angle to the affected side when relaxing. CASE REPORT: In this article, it is reported that a 27-year-old male patient was diagnosed as facial neuritis, and the patient appeared after injection of the COVID-19 vaccine (Modena mRNA-1273) on May 17, 2022. After inspection, no obvious abnormality was found on the MRI plain scan of brain. Electromyography: the left and right facial nerve conduction were normal, and the amplitude of evoked potential on the left side was significantly lower than that on the right side. House-Brackmann Facial Nerve grade IV, the patient's condition improved 14 days after hormone treatment. CONCLUSION: The causal relationship between vaccination and the development of Facial neuritis uncertain. The temporal relationship to the vaccination should encourage health care professionals to be vigilant toward people developing Bell’s palsy after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with mRNA vaccine. Diagnosis and treatment should be swift and decisive.