Exclusive:
Bell’s palsy is a neurological condition which can trigger facial drooping and various other symptoms due to sudden onset muscle paralysis
A 51-year-old man has spoken out about a condition he faced during his youth, warning that one thing is crucial to understand. Karim Ullah, a restaurant founder from Hertfordshire, suffered a Bell’s palsy attack when he was just 18 years old, giving him no option but to undergo months of steroid treatment.
This attack, defined by a sudden but temporary weakness in facial muscles, also completely reshaped the side of his face. At one point, doctors even stitched his eye closed as he couldn’t keep it shut.
Speaking exclusively with the Mirror, he said: “It happened very suddenly. One day I go to work and all my colleagues just kept on saying to me: ‘why are you winking?’. And I was like, ‘what are you talking about, am I winking? I’m not doing anything.’
“And then, I didn’t pay any attention, I thought they were just having a laugh and just trying to wind me up. I didn’t think anything of it, and then that evening when I finished work… and it was just before midnight I brushed my teeth and then I tried to rinse my mouth and the next thing I know is the water that I just poured into my mouth just came straight out.
“And I was like, this is bizarre I’ve never seen anything like this or experienced anything like this.” Realising that he’d lost control of the left side of his face, Karim visited a GP the next morning who later referred him to East Surrey Hospital.
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Thankfully, they diagnosed the attack very quickly, but the initial delay in medical treatment had left one eye irreparably damaged. He continued: “They stitched my left eye closed and said that I’d have to have it closed for a while.
“The left side of my face had just completely lost sensation, when I was laughing my face went really strange… It just irritated me more than anything, it wasn’t painful… I had to have treatment through steroids and eventually I got my sense back but my left eye has become a little smaller.
“And I always feel that my left side of my face is always cold compared to the right side… It also means I can’t wear contact lenses or have laser surgery.”
Karim’s thoughts come as I’m A Celebrity contestant Tulisa Contostavlos recently put a spotlight on her own experience with Bell’s palsy. The former X Factor judge was also just 24 when she experienced ‘a massive burst of inflammation’ which dramatically changed her appearance.
“So I was sat at home and I had this huge burst of inflammation on my cheek, as if like I had an abscess in there or something,” the 36-year-old said on Olivia Attwood’s So Wrong It’s Right podcast. “And I went straight to a doctor, they gave me antibiotics, steroid injections, don’t know what caused it.
“And then it went down to a certain extent, left with some mild swelling, and then my whole face just dropped. My face remained like that for seven months.”
Beyond this facial paralysis, Dr Gareth Nye, a Senior Lecturer at Chester Medical School (@dr.gareth.nye), told the Mirror that unusual mouth sensations, a loss of taste and even dizziness can be signs of a Bell’s palsy attack too. These attacks can happen to anyone, but most often impact people aged between 15 and 45.
“It is the most common cause of one sided facial nerve paralysis with around 1% of people being affected at least once during their lives,” Dr Nye claimed, before adding: “The cause is unknown although a number of theories have been put forward including viruses such as the chicken pox virus varicella or the viruses which can cause cold sores.
“This is because they use the facial nerves to remain undetected. It’s theorised latent viruses are being attacked by the immune system causing swelling and inflammation of the nerves blocking their function and causing the paralysis.”
Although most cases of Bell’s palsy calm down in a matter of weeks, patients usually feel ‘normal’ again after approximately six months. This was the case for Karim, though he stressed that ‘the left side of [his] face has never been the same’.
“[It’s important to know] it can happen at any age,” Karim went on. “If anyone sees any symptoms like their face is doing a little strange movement of the muscle, go to the doctor. I had it at 18 and everyone I knew was shocked when they found out that I was 18 and I had it.
“It just goes to show that it can happen to anyone… Keep an eye on your health because you could end up with a damaged eye like I have.”
Dr Nye also summarised: “Any symptoms which involve sudden onset paralysis should be seen by a doctor immediately, even in those who have had Bell’s palsy events previously […] In patients where the paralysis has not been reversed, surgery may be of benefit along with physiotherapy.”
Have you got a story to share? Get in touch, at lauren.haughey@reachplc.com
