Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinical characteristics in children and adolescents with peripheral facial palsy that was treated with Korean medicine. Methods The study was conducted based on 284 cases that consisted of 261 children (less than 19 years old) who visited the hospital of Korean medicine from August 2010 to August 2014. Then, this study was analyzed by reviewing the patients' charts. Results The incidence of facial palsy in pediatric patients was more common in boys than in girls and the mean age was 11.2 years. The prevalence of facial palsy was more common in winter and most were diagnosed with Bell's palsy. Recurrence was identified in 12.6% of the patients. The average age of the first attack was 9.5 years. It took about 3.2 years for recurrence to occur from the first onset. It took about 5 days to visit the hospital of Korean medicine from the onset. 81% of the patients came within 1 week from the onset. 50.7% of the cases did not receive any treatment before and 49.3% were previously treated at other hospitals. More than half of the patients (65.1%) received Korean medicine first. 54.6% of the patients were hospitalized and 45.4% received outpatient treatments in the hospital of Korean medicine. Outpatient treatments were administered about 11.5 times while hospitalized patients were treated for an average of 16.6 days. In general, hospitalized patients were treated more often than the outpatient group. An overall average duration of treatment was 70.6 days from the onset of facial palsy until the last day of treatment, and 53.0 days from the first day of treatment until the last day of treatment. 41.5% of the cases were treated only with Korean medicine and 49.0% were treated with a combination of Korean and Western medicine. The types of Korean medicine treatment used for facial palsy in descending order of frequency were acupuncture, Infra red, herbal medicine, SSP therapy, electro-acupuncture, carbone, hot pack, cupping, and moxibustion. The treatments that were most frequently used from Western medicines were steroid as monotherapy (61.7%) and a combination of steroids and antiviral therapy (37.6%). Conclusions This result showed that the risk of facial palsy recurrence among children is relatively high and that facial palsy requires a long-term treatment. It's helpful to explain about prognosis, treatment duration, and recurrence potential in children. Facial palsy in children is treated in various ways but more studies about the therapeutic effects of Korean medicine, Western medicine, and combination of Korean-Western medicine in children are needed.
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