Hypertension First Seen as Facial Paralysis: Case Reports and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Facial paralysis was first described in a hypertensive patient by Moxon1 more than a century ago. Subsequently, there have been reports2-8 that have included a number of children, and facial palsy is mentioned in standard pediatric references9,10 as a rare feature of hypertension. Even so, practitioners may fail to recognize that facial (seventh cranial nerve) paralysis can be the initial feature of severe hypertension in children. To increase the level of awareness, we describe three severely hypertensive children who were first seen with facial paralysis between 1980 and 1988. In one of these children the diagnosis of hypertension was delayed.