"It happened while I was just brushing my teeth."
Actress Ahn Eun-jin has disclosed that she suddenly developed facial paralysis while filming a television drama, drawing attention to the symptoms and treatment of facial nerve palsy.
Sudden Paralysis on One Side of the Face — Bell's Palsy Most Common
Facial paralysis occurs when the facial nerve, the seventh cranial nerve that controls facial muscles, malfunctions, dulling or paralyzing movement on one side of the face, according to medical experts on the 15th. Typical symptoms include facial asymmetry, with one corner of the mouth drooping and the eye failing to close properly.
The most common type is Bell's palsy, in which paralysis appears suddenly on one side of the face without any particular injury. Bell's palsy accounts for about 70% of all facial paralysis cases.
The exact cause has not been clearly identified, but reactivation of the herpes simplex virus is known to be one of the main mechanisms. When immunity weakens, a dormant virus can become active and cause inflammation and swelling in the facial nerve. The nerve, which passes through a narrow bony canal, is then compressed, leading to paralysis.
"Water Leaked Out While I Was Brushing My Teeth" — Ahn's Early Symptoms
The symptoms Ahn described also align closely with what doctors cite as the hallmark early signs of facial paralysis.
Appearing on the YouTube channel "Yozung Jaehyung" on the 13th, Ahn recalled the period when she was filming the drama "The Good Bad Mother," saying, "I got sick in the middle of it. I caught a chill and developed facial palsy."
"On the day of the shoot, I was washing my face and brushing my teeth, and water leaked out of one side of my mouth," she said. "When I blinked, my face moved with a time lag." She visited a hospital and was diagnosed with facial paralysis, but at first she thought she would recover after a few days of rest.
Her condition worsened instead. "I didn't know much about the illness at that point, so I thought I'd get better with a few days of rest, but it kept getting worse and I felt so depressed and sad," Ahn said.
Doctors also point to water leaking from one side of the mouth while brushing teeth or drinking as an early symptom that warrants close attention. Drooping lips or mouth corners, difficulty closing the eye, and the disappearance of forehead wrinkles can also occur. Pain behind the ear and a reduced sense of taste sometimes accompany these signs.
Ahn eventually continued filming using mainly the side of her face where the paralysis was less visible, then halted her schedule entirely. "I went to both Western and traditional Korean medicine clinics, took medication, got acupuncture and received aggressive steroid treatment. That bought me a month," she said.
The treatment itself was difficult, she said. "I needed to get better, but I wasn't improving day by day and instead got worse, so I became depressed," Ahn said, describing side effects from the steroid treatment. "If I went out for even a walk, my face would be badly swollen and my knees would swell up." She added, "It was hard to stay positive at that time."
First 72 Hours Critical — Other Causes Such as Stroke Must Be Ruled Out
How the condition is handled in its early stages has a major impact on recovery. Cho Young-sang, a professor of otolaryngology at Samsung Medical Center, said on the YouTube channel "Doctor Friends" on the 7th that "the golden time for steroid treatment is within 72 hours of onset, or three full days."
Administering steroids in the acute phase helps rapidly reduce inflammation and swelling in the facial nerve, minimizing nerve damage. According to Cho, about 70% of simple Bell's palsy cases resolve on their own without treatment, but appropriate treatment raises the recovery rate to about 90%. If more than two weeks pass after onset, however, steroids may offer little benefit.
Not every case of facial paralysis should be assumed to be Bell's palsy. Cho said Bell's palsy accounts for about 70% of cases, while the remaining 30% may stem from Ramsay Hunt syndrome, otitis media, tumors, or central nervous system conditions such as cerebral infarction and cerebral hemorrhage.
If one side of the face suddenly droops, the eye will not close, or water leaks from one side of the mouth while brushing teeth as in Ahn's case, it is important to seek a proper diagnosis at a medical institution rather than trying to determine the cause on one's own.
