• Min Young Kwak, Ho Yun Lee, Se A Lee, Junhui Jeong, Jae Ho Chung, Jin Kim, Beom Cho Jun, Seung-Geun Yeo, Sang Hoon Kim, and Jong Dae Lee.
• The Facial Nerve Disorder Subcommittee, The Quality Control Committee of the Korean Otologic Society, Seoul, Korea.
• J. Korean Med. Sci. 2024 Apr 29; 39 (16): e140e140.

BackgroundThis article presents a comprehensive review of data on the impact of facial palsy during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The possible causes and pathophysiological mechanisms of changes in the epidemiology of facial palsy during the COVID-19 pandemic are also discussed.MethodsThis multicenter retrospective cohort study included 943 patients diagnosed with Bell's palsy or Ramsay Hunt syndrome. This study compared patient demographics, comorbidities, symptoms, and treatments before the COVID-19 pandemic (from 2017 to 2019) and during the COVID-19 pandemic, from 2020 to 2022).ResultsFollowing the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been a significant increase in the number of cases of Bell's palsy, particularly among elderly individuals with diabetes. Bell's palsy increased after the COVID-19 outbreak, rising from 75.3% in the pre-COVID-19 era to 83.6% after the COVID-19 outbreak. The complete recovery rate decreased from 88.2% to 73.9%, and the rate of recurrence increased from 2.9% to 7.5% in patients with Bell's palsy. Ramsay Hunt syndrome showed fewer changes in clinical outcomes.ConclusionThis study highlights the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the presentation and management of facial palsy, and suggests potential associations with COVID-19. Notably, the observed increase in Bell's palsy cases among elderly individuals with diabetes emphasizes the impact of the pandemic. Identifying the epidemiological changes in facial palsy during the COVID-19 pandemic has important implications for assessing its etiology and pathological mechanisms of facial palsy disease.© 2024 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.

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