Abstract
Two cases of bilateral facial nerve palsy are reported. Case I was a 57-year-old female who developed facial palsy of both sides simultaneously, and turned out to be suffering from GuillainBarré syndrome. Her facial palsy recovered soon after the start of treatment along with the underlying disease. Case 2 was a 65-year-old male who developed left facial palsy first, followed by right facial palsy 13 days later. He was eventually diagnosed with multiple myeloma. The patient died despite active treatment, and his bilateral facial palsy did not change until his death. In both cases, bilateral facial nerve palsy was the initial manifestation of the underlying diseases. The mechanism of bilateral palsy was considered to be polyneuritis in Case I, and unknown in Case 2, but myeloma cell infiltration to both facial nerves was considered a possibility. Although bilateral facial nerve palsy is rather rare, it is particularly important to do a thorough differential diagnosis when seeing a patient with such palsy, since a serious underlying systemic disease may exist.
