Objective: To describe the use of a digital camera to document facial nerve
function after skull base surgery.
Setting: Patients undergoing skull base surgery at a tertiary care otologic
and neurotologic clinic were used in the study.
Interventions: None.
Results: A digital camera system provided still images and a video strip la
sting less than a minute to document facial nerve motion.
Conclusions: An inexpensive digital camera system can be used to capture st
ill and moving images of facial nerve function on a floppy disk. The images
can then be transferred to compact disks for storage of many patient files
. Such a system allows documentation for research, exchange of data between
offices, and patient education, and it can be used for medical-legal purpo
ses among other uses. Key Words: Digital camera documentation-Facial nerve
outcome-Skull base surgery.