Facial Nerve Center

Why choose Ochsner for facial nerve care?

The Facial Nerve Center at Ochsner Health is the only facial nerve center in New Orleans, Louisiana, that offers comprehensive facial paralysis care. We provide advanced care and treatment for disorders involving the facial nerve and facial movement.

Our team includes specialists from multiple areas who work together and with you to create a personalized care plan designed to give you the best possible treatment. They understand how important your face is to your identity and how it helps you communicate with the world around you. Coordinated facial movements also play a vital role in everyday functions like closing your eyes, speaking clearly, and swallowing safely.

Our experts are here to support you every step of the way, so you can feel confident and comfortable.

Our team offers specialized care, comprehensive evaluations and tailored treatment plans for patients with facial nerve disorders, including:

Bell’s Palsy
Ramsay Hunt Syndrome
Cancer-associated facial paralysis (skin cancer, parotid cancer)
Synkinesis, or uncoordinated facial movement
Facial paralysis after vestibular schwannoma, also known as an acoustic neuroma
Cerebellopontine angle (CPA) tumor removal

We treat patients with a history of Bell’s Palsy whose faces have not fully recovered. They may be experiencing tightness when their face is at rest, or synkinesis – uncoordinated facial movement that sometimes involves their eye closing when they open or close their mouth or try to eat. They also may have difficulty raising their lip to smile, or their lower lip may be elevated.

We also treat patients who have a fully paralyzed face due to a tumor or cancer involving their facial nerve. These patients may be unable to close their eyes, unable to smile or unable to close their mouth, leading to chronic drooling and oral incompetence, or difficulty keeping food in their mouth.

At Ochsner's Facial Nerve Center, we prioritize personalized treatment for face nerve conditions. Each patient’s treatment plan is tailored for their specific needs.

Treatments we offer include:

Facial movement therapy
Medical Botox to temporarily relax muscles of the face that are providing unwanted movement
Surgery

We offer surgeries that can be performed under both local anesthesia and general anesthesia, to help restore facial form and function.

Our team has specialized training in facial reanimation surgery, which can help patients with facial paralysis restore facial movement and expression.

Jonas Miller, MD, is the director of Ochsner Health’s Facial Nerve Center.

Our expert team includes facial plastic and reconstructive surgeons, a facial movement therapist and a nursing coordinator. They work together to provide comprehensive care and treatment options for our patients.

FAQs

Multiple specialists treat facial nerve problems. Those include facial plastic and reconstructive surgeons, otolaryngologists, also known as an ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctor, and neurologists.

This depends on the extent of the injury to the facial nerve. If the facial nerve is damaged but remains intact, the nerve can heal on its own over time. If there has been a transection or “cut” of the facial nerve or a branch of the facial nerve, this may be a candidate for surgical repair if the injury is diagnosed soon enough. It is helpful to have a trained clinician evaluate you to help characterize the injury. In certain instances, if the nerve injury is caught early enough, there are possible surgical treatments

Facial nerve disorders can happen for different reasons, and each can affect how the nerves in your face work.

Trauma from accidents or surgeries can damage the face nerve, leading to weakness or paralysis. This usually requires immediate medical attention to recover properly.

Infections and diseases also can cause facial nerve disorders. For example, a viral infection can cause Bell’s palsy, which makes part of your face suddenly feel weak or paralyzed.

Other conditions, like Lyme disease or tumors, also can damage the facial nerve.

Some people are born with differences in how their facial nerves are built or work, which may lead to uneven facial movement or difficulty controlling certain muscles.