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Does Botulinum Toxin Therapy Improve Quality of Life in Patients with Facial Palsy?

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Abstract

Objectives

To review the current literature for the efficacy of botulinum toxin therapy to improve quality of life in patients with facial palsy.

Methods

A comprehensive systematic literature search was performed of the Medline, EMBase, PubMed and Cochrane Library databases. The population of interest was patients with facial palsy and the intervention of interest was botulinum toxin injection. The primary outcome of this review was quality of life outcomes before and after treatment.

Results

Six studies were included for review. Outcome data were not amenable to meta-analysis due to the heterogeneity of outcome measures. There was an overall trend towards improvement in quality of life after botulinum toxin therapy with the majority of studies demonstrating a statistically significant benefit. The aspects of life in which patients saw benefit varied amongst studies. No patient factors were identified to predict which sub-cohort would likely have the greatest benefit from therapy. Two studies reported adverse effects to be common however minor in nature.

Conclusion

This review presents contemporary evidence that botulinum toxin is of benefit to the quality of life of patients with facial palsy. Additional larger randomised control trials would aid clinicians in quantifying the benefit of such therapies for patients with facial palsy.

Level of evidence III

This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Prince of Wales Hospital, Barker St, Randwick, NSW, 2031, Australia

    Jordan Fuzi, Alon Taylor, Anders Sideris & Catherine Meller

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  1. Jordan Fuzi
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  2. Alon Taylor
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  3. Anders Sideris
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  4. Catherine Meller
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Correspondence to Jordan Fuzi.

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Fuzi, J., Taylor, A., Sideris, A. et al. Does Botulinum Toxin Therapy Improve Quality of Life in Patients with Facial Palsy?. Aesth Plast Surg 44, 1811–1819 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-020-01870-4

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