IDIOPATHIC FACIAL PARALYSIS - A RANDOMIZED, PROSPECTIVE, AND CONTROLLED-STUDY USING SINGLE-DOSE PREDNISONE VERSUS ACYCLOVIR 3 TIMES DAILY

In a prospective, controlled, and randomized study, we compared the ou tcome of 101 Bell's palsy patients treated with acyclovir (54 patients ) or prednisone (47 patients). The acyclovir dosage was 2400 mg (800 m g three times a day) for 10 days, and prednisone was given as a single daily dose of 1 mg/kg of body weight for 10 days and tapered to 0 ove r the next 6 days, Minimum follow-up was 3 months in all patients, Pat ients in the prednisone group had better clinical recovery than those treated with acyclovir, Less degree of neural degeneration was observe d in the prednisone group compared with acyclovir patients, The incide nce of sequelae was the same in both groups. According to these result s, in a 10-day treatment cycle acyclovir given 800 mg three times is n ot as useful as prednisone given 1 mg/kg of body weight once a day in patients with idiopathic facial nerve paralysis.