Bell's palsy
1
4.8
- noun
- /bɛlz ˈpɔlzi/
- Specialized
:
parálisis de Bell
- Tuesday, August 5, three weeks after being hit with Bell's palsy, I was going to bring my eyedrops and my elbow pads to the rink and try to play one last hockey game.
- Bell's palsy (facial nerve paralysis)
- Bell's palsy (facial nerve)
Examples
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The usual pattern seen on MR imaging in cases of Bell's palsy is enhancement of the nerve within the meatal, geniculate, and sometimes tympanic segments, which may last for 4 months.
Academic text (2002) -
After her diagnosis of Bell's palsy, she started a treatment plan with a specialist.
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After a diagnosis of Bell's palsy was reached, he had been referred to us for treatment.
Academic text (2002) -
Bell's palsy remains the most common cause of facial paralysis.
Academic text (2002) -
He had apparently been told he had right-sided Bell's palsy.
Academic text (2002) -
Bell's palsy can be defined as an acute, unilateral, lower motor neuron facial paresis or paralysis, in which no other cause can be identified.
Academic text (2002) -
But whatever its cause and whatever its course, my Bell's palsy spoke to me of frailty and mischance and convinced me that my belated attempt to reclaim my body from the passage of time was surely doomed to failure.
Academic text (1999) -
Electric stimulation of facial muscles is a well-known method of treatment, used mainly for therapy of Bell's palsy (facial nerve paralysis) and occasionally in the management of otorhinolaryngologic problems.
Academic text (2004) -
My doctor explained that Bell's palsy can cause sudden weakness on one side of the face.
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Many people with Bell's palsy experience facial drooping that gradually improves over time.
Synonyms
81
5.4
Loss of movement and feeling in all or part of the body
30
8.4
A condition that makes part of the body weak or unable to move
Surface Forms
Morphology
Bell's + palsy
The headword 'palsy' directly indicates paralysis, so a learner who knows that word would infer that this phrase names a type of paralysis. However, 'Bell's' is an eponym (a person’s name) and gives no semantic cue about the facial, sudden, and typically temporary nature of the condition, so the full medical meaning is not fully predictable.
Etymology
Bell's palsy is named after a doctor, Sir Charles Bell, who showed that damage to the nerve that controls the face can make one side suddenly droop. So palsy here means sudden one-sided 'paralysis' or weakness of the face.