close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffBell's palsy occurs more often in people who:
- Are pregnant, especially during the third trimester, or who are in the first week after giving birth
- Have diabetes
- Have an upper respiratory infection, such as the flu or a cold
Also, some people who have recurrent attacks of Bell's palsy, which is rare, have a family history of recurrent attacks. In those cases, there may be a genetic predisposition to Bell's palsy.
References
- Bell's palsy fact sheet. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/bells/detail_bells.htm. Accessed Nov. 10, 2009.
- Ronthal M. Bell's palsy. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 11, 2009.
- Bell's palsy. American Academy of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery. http://www.entnet.org/HealthInformation/bellsPalsy.cfm. Accessed Nov. 10, 2009.
- Bell's palsy. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec16/ch219/ch219i.html. Accessed Nov. 11, 2009.
- Cardoso JR, et al. Effects of exercises on Bell's palsy: Systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Ontology & Neurotology. 2008;29:557.
- De Almeida JR, et al. Combined corticosteroid and antiviral treatment for Bell palsy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2009;302:985.
Find Mayo Clinic on