Steroid confirmed effective against Bell's palsy

By Gene Emery

BOSTON (Reuters) - A steroid drug long given to treat the facial paralysis of Bell's palsy improves the rate of recovery, but the antivirus drug acyclovir does not, researchers reported on Wednesday.

And in some cases, the researchers said, it may be OK not to treat the condition at all.

Bell's palsy, which affects the nerve feeding the facial muscles, is relatively rare. In affects up to 1 in 2,500 people per year, stripping the smile of its symmetry and robbing the eye of its ability to close.

Although it usually disappears without treatment, as many as 30 percent of patients do not recover completely and the best treatment has been debated.

The new research, led by Frank Sullivan of the University of Dundee, followed 496 patients from 17 hospitals in Scotland who received 10 days of one of four regimens: treatment with both acyclovir and the anti-inflammatory steroid prednisolone, the combination of prednisolone and placebo, a combination of acyclovir and placebo, or two placebos.

All the volunteers began treatment within 72 hours after symptoms appeared, Sullivan's team reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Three months after diagnosis, the recovery rate among those who received the steroid alone was 86 percent, compared to 65 percent for volunteers who got a double dose of placebo.

Acyclovir -- a drug used to treat herpesviruses -- actually seemed to hinder recovery, although not significantly. Sixty-three percent of patients who got acyclovir recovered completely.