Stability of Benefits of Mime Therapy in Sequelae of Facial Nerve Paresis During a 1-Year Period

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Abstract
To assess the stability of benefits of mime therapy, a modality of physiotherapy for patients with facial nerve paresis, during a period of 1 year. A prospective follow-up build on a randomized clinical trial in which a treatment group is compared with a control group. Physiotherapy outpatient department. Forty-eight patients with a history of a facial nerve paresis of 9 months or more. Mime therapy. Sequelae of facial nerve paresis were measured using the same measurement instruments as in the randomized clinical trial--the Sunnybrook and the House-Brackmann (HB) Facial Grading Systems, the lip length and pout indices, a stiffness scale, and the Facial Disability Index. Stability of outcome level and of interpatient differences is analyzed. Of the 46 patients who completed the follow-ups, repeated-measures analyses of covariance revealed no significant differences in the average scores nor significant trends of the posttherapy measurements, except for the pout index and the Facial Disability Index-social. For six sequelae (except HB), 95% of patient-sequel combinations showed immediate improvement after mime therapy, for HB grades this was 74%. Where sequelae improved, the posttherapy individual courses (T2-T3-T4) showed, also for HB, in majority absence of deterioration; benefits obtained were stable. Mime therapy is effective in patients with facial nerve paresis and benefits are stable 1 year after therapy.