OBJECTIVETo observe the therapeutic effect and to explore the best opportunity of acupuncture on spontaneous facial paralysis in acute stage.

METHODSBy prospective cohort study, 80 patients were divided into an observation group (n = 59) and a control group (n = 21). The course of disease was less than 5 days in the observation group and more than 7 days in the control group and had not received acupuncture treatment. They were all treated with acupuncture at Sibai (ST 2), Dicang (ST 4), Jiache (ST 6) and Cuanzhu (BL 2) etc. for 8 weeks. The facial nerve function grading (House-Brackmann, HB) and facial disable index (FDI) before treatment, 8 days after onset, 2, 4, 6, 8 weeks and 3 months after treatment were evaluated.

RESULTSBoth two groups could decrease HB grading and increase FDI score (all P < 0.05), and the observation group was superior to the control group in improvement degree (all P < 0.05). The cured rate of 86.4% (51/59) in the observation group was superior to that of 76.2% (16/21) in the control group, with significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the treatment time of cured patients in the observation group was shorter [(25.98 +/- 11.25) days vs (39.31 +/- 13.07) days, P < 0.01], and the incidence of sequelae of 5.1% (3/59) in the observation group was lower than that of 9.5% (2/21) in the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAcupuncture can improve the therapeutic effect, shorten the treatment course and reduce the sequelae incidence of spontaneous facial paralysis in acute stage.