OBJECTIVETo observe clinical therapeutic effect of plum-blossom needle therapy combined with cupping at the affected side on acute facial paralysis.

METHODSThe such patients were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group, 32 cases in each group. The patients of the two groups were treated with the same Western medicines, and at the acute stage, the treatment group were treated by tapping the affected face, the surroundings of retroanricular mastoid, the region with aching pain in the neck side with plum-blossom needle and cupping, and then local radiation by TDP, and the control group were treated by TDP radiation at the same area. In the stationary phase and restoration stage, the two groups were treated by body acupuncture at the affected side with a same therapeutic course.

RESULTSThe cured rate was 81.2% in the treatment group and 68.7% in the control group with a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05), and there was a significant difference between the two groups in therapeutic course for cure (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONPlum-blossom needle therapy combined with cupping at the affected side can help restore functions of facial nerves, and obviously increase the cured rate and shorten the therapeutic course for acute facial paralysis.