Publication:

Acute otitis media in pregnancy with unilateral lower motor neuron facial nerve palsy: a case report

We report the case of a pregnant female of 32-years at 37-weeks of gestational period with four days history of left sided lower motor neuron (LMN) facial palsy with a recent history of bilateral ear pain. She is in her last trimester of pregnancy and expected for a normal vaginal delivery. She had no other ailments and had no history of similar facial palsy in past. The case was managed conservatively with good outcome. Following our experience and review of literature on the case, antibiotic therapy and corticosteroid therapy, with or without myringotomy were found to be the first-line of management. To our knowledge, this is a rare report of LMN facial palsy in association with acute otitis media (AOM) and pregnancy. Some factors involved for LMN palsy in this case could be: compression of horizontal part of facial nerve due to otitis media, increases incidence of Bell’s palsy in pregnancy.