Please read the details on treatment of adult palsies, particularly for young children who were not born with palsy but have had Bells Palsy or a surgical onset, the approach to treatment remains the same as the adults and is underpinned by the same theories of muscle physiology.

As I am sure you will appreciate randomised control studies on paediatric patients, with this type of rehabilitation, is extremely difficult not least because the degree of facial expression that is required of them and that they can achieve changes with each of the milestones. The principles of muscle physiology that underpin our approach to facial rehabilitation, however, remain true across the age spectrum. Due to the non invasive nature of the treatment there are no ethical problems with use of surface emg testing or application of TES treatment in young children. We have treated from 3 weeks and upwards using our techniques. However, there is no cut off time after which it is too late to start treatment, we have treated adults who have had a palsy from birth but this can take a little longer remember we are looking at a lifetime of using your face one way and we are trying to retrain it, not impossible but needs patience!

We treat many young babies with congenital palsies of differing degree of severity with a high degree of success. Most have unilateral facial palsy, for bilateral read the Moebius Syndrome section.

The conservative approach to treatment is often welcomed by the parents who are diligent in the adherence to the home based aspects of the treatment. The treatment being primarily home based with 4 yearly trips to the clinic for monitoring and reassessment puts a lot of hard work on the parents but usually makes the treatment more acceptable to the children. The daily application of the treatment unit can be fitted in with the home routine and many young babies sleep whilst wearing the unit, slightly older children use it as special mummy time and cuddle up on the settee to watch a DVD – it really doesn’t matter how you fit it into your routine. We like to start treatment on young babies and get the intensive bit done whilst they are too young to have awareness of their face. Once the initial groundwork is done we don’t loose anything by having treatment breaks when a new sibling arrives on the scene.

Once this initial intensive treatment period is completed we generally see the children twice a year to monitor and aim to maintain symmetry through growth periods. As the children become cognitively able to undertake biofeedback sessions sometime over the age of 5 we will add in these sessions, if appropriate.

As a parent reading this I hope the website will have answered at least some of your questions, if you think this is something you want to pursue then please ring or email the clinic with some specifics about your child and we can offer our opinion and of course answer any further questions.