HBOT Treatment For Bell’s Palsy

Bell's palsy is a sudden weakness in the muscles on one half of the face. It may be a reaction to a viral infection. It rarely occurs more than once. It is characterised by muscle weakness that causes one half of the face to droop. Your smile is one-sided, and your eye on that side resists closing. It usually resolves on its own within six months. Physiotherapy can help prevent muscles from permanently contracting. The cause of Bell's palsy is unknown. The nerve that controls your facial muscles passes through a narrow corridor of bone on its way to your face. In Bell's palsy, that nerve becomes inflamed and swollen — usually related to a viral infection. Besides facial muscles, the nerve affects tears, saliva, taste and a small bone in the middle of your ear. Most scientists believe that reactivation of an existing (dormant) viral infection may cause the disorder.

Standard treatment includes steroids to help settle swelling of the facial nerve, whereas antiviral treatment does not appear to help. In hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the person undergoing treatment breathes 100% oxygen in a pressurised chamber for about one hour (called a 'dive'). This may produce more dissolved oxygen in the facial nerve and might reduce nerve damage in Bell's palsy. Hyperbaric oxygen has the ability to massively create stem cells in your body. In fact, studies show that your body produces 800% more stem cells after 40 treatments of hyperbaric oxygen. Your body uses these stem cells as extra resources to heal and recover, since stem cells are able to grow up into any kind of cell the body needs. In the case of Bell’s palsy there can be body tissues which need to be repaired even after toxins and pathogens have been removed from the body. The stem cells produced by hyperbaric oxygen are able to repair this damage.