Contents
What makes the face or part of the face go numb
What happens to our face when it tingles and the muscles twitch, out of control?
This numbness is called paresthesia in medicine. There can be several reasons for the phenomenon. The most common is to stay in one position for a long time, sleep with your face pressed against the pillow. But in 20% of cases, manifestations may indicate problems with the central nervous system. Let’s understand the issue in more detail.
What makes your face go numb?
Why does the face go numb and what to do about it?
So, to begin with, let’s name the natural causes leading to facial numbness.
They lay on an uncomfortable pillow, fell asleep face down, were very nervous, were in extreme cold and felt the signs – tingling, numbness, twitching – do massage: Bring the blood flow back to normal with gentle movements and after a couple of minutes the face will come to life again.
It will not be superfluous to use the test recommended by doctors.
Lightly prick the numb part with a sterile needle.
If there is no sensitivity, urgently see a doctor. The symptom speaks of local paralysis, the risk of stroke is possible.
In cases where the symptom is accompanied by loss of vision, consciousness, nausea, palpitations, an ambulance should be called and, before its arrival, take a horizontal position, the head should be higher than the body.
If you happen to witness such a condition, you need to start first aid.
Check the victim’s pulse with one hand and call an ambulance at the same time.
In the absence of a pulse, create conditions for the flow of fresh air, artificial respiration, heart massage.
What makes your face go numb?
Scientists at the National Health Service of England have concluded that a lack of vitamin B12 can be detrimental to human health. In their opinion, vitamin deficiency can lead to serious neurological problems, such as: paresthesia, memory loss, visual impairment, peripheral neuropathy.
Other causes of facial numbness
1. Often the face becomes numb during attacks of headache, migraine. Symptoms are accompanied by nausea, weakness, sensitivity to bright light. Numbness can talk about cervical osteochondrosis, vasoconstriction, vegetative dystonia, high or low blood pressure.
2. Also lack of potassium, B vitamins, calcium in the body, stress suffered, pinching of nerve endings on the face can lead to this kind of sensation.
3. For the suffering inflammation of the trigeminal nerve numbness is a familiar sensation. At the same time, a person has frequent headaches, migraine attacks.
When part of the face becomes numb, the symptom speaks of Bell’s disease… One of the branches of the trigeminal nerve becomes inflamed, and as a result, sensitivity is lost, the patient is accompanied by severe pain shooting from ear to nose. In the acute phases of the problem, the face becomes distorted.
The nature of the disease can be ARVI, shingles, neoplasms in the brain, stress, hypothermia, trauma.
Important: at the first sign, you should consult a doctor. Taking analgesics only temporarily relieves pain, and even then in many cases even they are powerless. Complex treatment of the trigeminal nerve with antiviral drugs will be required.
Anti-inflammatory therapy, glucocorticoids and non-steroidal drugs are prescribed, physiotherapy, vitamin complexes, and massage are effective.
Expert Opinion
Neurologist at the European Medical Center
– The most common causes of facial numbness are various processes in the trigeminal nerve system, which in humans realizes sensitivity on the face, and also provides sensitivity to the structures of the eye, nasal sinuses, nasopharynx and oropharynx. The nerve is paired, each is responsible for half of the face and organs of the front of the head from its side. The nerve is divided into three branches: the optic nerve, the maxillary and mandibular nerves, each of which gives branches already in its own area (the frontal-temporal region for the first branch, the zygomatic for the second branch, and the area of the lower jaw for the third branch).
Damage to large or small branches of the trigeminal nerve can lead to numbness, tingling, pain, and many other sensory problems on the face.
The terminal sensory branches of the trigeminal nerve may temporarily or malfunction for the following reasons.
1. Hypothermia (drafts, lack of a scarf / hat in cold weather).
2. Lifetime head (face) injuries (facial contusions, fractures and cracks in the bones of the facial skeleton, for example, the zygomatic arch or the orbit).
3. Otolaryngological pathology (consequences of sinusitis, for example, sinusitis or frontal sinusitis).
4. Pathology of the dentoalveolar system (teeth are also innervated by the systemic trigeminal nerve, so dental problems can give reflected pain or numbness in the skin of the face), including dysfunction or arthrosis of the temporomandibular joints, malocclusion.
5. The consequences of aggressive cosmetic procedures (any injections into the subcutaneous tissue or facial muscles of the face can damage the terminal or large branches of the trigeminal nerve).
6. Electrolyte disturbances (impaired calcium metabolism, magnesium deficiency).
7. Vitamin D deficiency.
8. Deficiency of B vitamins, folic acid, iron deficiency.
9. Psychoemotional stress, overwork.
10. Thyroid dysfunction.
11. Problems with the cervical spine and nerves of the cervico-cranial junction.
12. Persistent intense numbness of the face, especially in combination with pain and other neurological symptoms, can occur as a result of serious diseases of the central or peripheral nervous system: with multiple sclerosis, tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease), tumors of intracranial localization in the region of the trigeminal nerve within the skull, with compression of the trigeminal nerve by deformed vessels inside the skull, etc.
13. Repetitive short-term numbness of the face can occur with migraine, epilepsy, transient cerebrovascular accident.
Eduard Matveev, Daria Vertinskaya, Rumiya Safiulina, Wday.ru editorial office