Very little has been written in the American literature in the past 10 years concerning the treatment of this most interesting syndrome, the Ramsey Hunt syndrome. Only 2 articles mention the use of steroid therapy, and neither author considers this drug beneficial to his patient. The recommendation of a method of treatment based on the results of one case is certainly to be deplored. Conversely, the condemnation of any mode of therapy must await a series of sufficient size. This case report is offered only as a "part" of a future "whole" and not as a series unto itself. Ramsey Hunt5 defined this syndrome bearing his name as a facial palsy associated with herpes zoster lesions over the cutaneous field of the geniculate ganglion. He observed that deafness and occasionally loss of balance and tinnitus were present in the patient. The geniculate ganglion was believed by Hunt