Clinically reviewed by A closer look
While the facial nerve is recovering, the face relearns movement. If you practise with effort, the strong side and the wrong muscles take over, and the face can heal into a faulty pattern where the eye closes when you smile or the cheek pulls when you blink. That pattern is hard to undo later. This is why the manner of the exercise matters more than the amount.
So be plain about the popular advice. Forceful grimacing, chewing gum all day and blowing up balloons are commonly recommended for facial palsy and they make things worse. They are high effort activities that teach the face to move in the wrong pattern and tire muscles that are already struggling. Leave them out.
Sudden facial weakness needs a same day hospital check to rule out a stroke. If the arm or leg is also weak, speech is slurred, or the forehead still wrinkles normally on the weak side, treat it as an emergency. Steroids started within the first seventy two hours significantly improve the outcome in Bell's palsy, and that is a doctor's prescription, not physiotherapy.
Protect the eye from the first day. If the lid will not close fully, use lubricating drops through the day, ointment and taping at night, and sunglasses outdoors. A dried out cornea is damaged within days. These are general exercises and the right ones depend on the cause of the weakness. If the face feels tired, starts twitching, or pain keeps worsening, stop that session. See also our pages on Bell's palsy treatment and facial paralysis treatment.
The exercises
What helps
- Light massage first. With your fingertips, make small gentle circles over the cheek, around the mouth and across the forehead on the weak side. Two to three minutes before the exercises.
- Gentle eyebrow raise. In front of a mirror, raise both eyebrows only as far as they move together. Hold three seconds and release slowly. Five repeats.
- Soft eye closure. Close both eyes gently, as if falling asleep, never squeezing. Hold three seconds. Five repeats, and do not force the lid that will not close.
- Small closed lip smile. Lips together, smile only as wide as both sides can match. Resting two fingers lightly on the weak cheek to lift it keeps the movement even. Hold three seconds, five repeats.
- Gentle lip pucker. Round the lips softly as if saying oo, without puffing the cheeks. Hold three seconds and release. Five repeats.
What to avoid
- Forceful grimacing and maximum effort faces. Big effort recruits the wrong muscles and that pattern can become permanent.
- Chewing gum all day, blowing up balloons, and blowing hard with the cheeks puffed out. These are widely recommended and they are harmful here.
- Electrical stimulation applied to the face without an assessment.
- Exercising until the face feels tired, or doing dozens of repeats. Short sessions several times a day are the correct dose.
Urdu / Roman Urdu
Choose your reading script / اپنی پسند کا رسم الخط منتخب کریں
اردوUrdu script
لقوہ کی ورزش بہت ہلکی اور برابر ہونی چاہیے۔ شیشے کے سامنے بیٹھیں، بھنویں ہلکا سا اٹھائیں، آنکھیں نرمی سے بند کریں، ہونٹوں کو ملا کر ہلکا سا مسکرائیں، اور ہونٹوں کو آرام سے گول کریں۔ ہر حرکت تین سیکنڈ، پانچ پانچ دفعہ، دن میں تین چار بار۔
زور لگا کر منہ بنانا، دن بھر چیونگ گم چبانا اور غبارے پھلانا نقصان دیتا ہے، چاہے لوگ مشورہ دیں۔ اس سے چہرہ غلط طریقے سے حرکت کرنا سیکھ لیتا ہے۔ آنکھ بند نہ ہو تو دن میں قطرے اور رات کو مرہم ضروری ہے۔
Roman Urdu
Laqwa ki warzish bohat halki aur barabar honi chahiye. Sheeshe ke samne baithen, bhawen halka sa uthayen, aankhen narmi se band karen, honton ko mila kar halka sa muskurayen, aur honton ko aaram se gol karen. Har harkat teen second, paanch paanch dafa, din mein teen chaar baar.
Zor laga kar muh banana, din bhar chewing gum chabana aur ghubaray phulana nuqsan deta hai, chahe log mashwara den. Is se chehra ghalat tareeqe se harkat karna seekh leta hai. Aankh band na ho to din mein drops aur raat ko ointment zaroori hai.
Questions people ask
Do facial exercises help Bell's palsy?
Should I chew gum or blow balloons to strengthen my face?
How long before my face starts moving again?
Can facial exercises help after a stroke?
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