A PRELIMINARY CLINICAL STUDY COMPARING THE EFFECT OF LOW LEVEL LASER THERAPY (LLLT) AND CORTICOSTEROID THERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF FACIAL PALSY

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Seven cases of peripheral facial palsy, who were patients of our hospital’s dermatological clinic, were treated with diode low reactive-level laser therapy (LLLT) while another seven cases, who were patients of our hospital’s otolaryngological clinic, were treated with a combination therapy consisting of LLLT and corticosteroid therapy, over the past one and half years. The clinical efficacy of the two regimens has been analyzed so that the comparison could be made utilizing a separate corticosteroid therapy group as the control. Those patients who had received LLLT showed a very similar overall recovery from the palsy when compared to those treated with corticosteroid, however those patients who had received the combination therapy showed the best recovery in the shortest period. No clinically significant adverse effect resulting from the LLLT was noted. Our results suggest that LLLT would be a suitable alternative treatment for those facial palsy patients for whom corticosteroid is not manageable, and furthermore that LLLT would be an ideal adjunctive treatment for those facial palsy patients for whom corticosteroid therapy is manageable.