Can polymialgia rhuematica cause facial bells palsey?

Posted by nanny24 @nanny24, Apr 26 5:13pm

My face n neck were fine for my age. I had cataract surgery in left eye and 2 days later my facial muscles hollowed out in my cheeks I had somewhat droopy thinking. And all of the lines all over my face I had never had before. The right side was perfectly fine. I just assumed something happened during surgery. I called surgeon he got upset saying surgery has nothing to do with this. I searched around and found its rare but this can happen becouse of surgery. A month later I find out I have an autoimmune called polymyalgia rhuematica. Alot of upper muscle n bone pain. The er Dr who believed thats what I had has put me on prednisone and pain is gone. Went to a new Dr to follow up who was an awful man and said you dont have autoimmune the blood test came back 0. He kept saying 0. Did some more research and found out the blood test can come back 0 or low. In fact people w/out any autoimmune the blood test can say its is? Very prevalent. It said they go by patients feelings and do other things. And the cap on it is if the prednisone worked? So they take it as a yes. So what im trying to find out is is the facial drooping n eye from the autoimmune or was i 1 of the few who can hit this rare thing after cataract surgery? It was 2 days later. And I hadn't felt the pain of any disease. Not to say it wasn't in there. But my face is driving me mad.the left and right sides of my face are completely different. My jaw is sore at times . My left eye bothers me and my left cheek bone feels like someone clocked me good. The surgery was feb 3ed of this year. My eye shouldn't still be bothering me. ? Heavy, sore a bit, itchy. Swelled up a bit in a.m. when I wake up. And my vision ? I only have clear vision about 1.5 ft away and no more than 5.5 ft away. Like just a middle area. Dr told me its probably dry eye .get lubricating gel.

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John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Apr 26 6:14pm

@nanny24, I know it has to be frustrating having the facial drooping and no answers. You mentioned jaw pain which is kind of a red flag when you have polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). When my PMR was active, my doctor and rheumatologist told me to tell them right away if I experienced any kind of jaw pain, tender scalp or pain in the temple area because they were concerned that I might also have giant cell arteritis (GCA) which can affect your vision and lead to losing your eyesight and important to get the symptoms under control. I would definitely let them know if you haven't already.

Hoping someone with similar experience can respond to your question about the facial symptoms. I did find a research article that seems to mention a connection but I'm really not sure if it's the same thing.
-- Facial nerve palsy in giant-cell arteritis: case-based review
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32794114/
You might want to see if you can get an appointment with a rheumatologist.

seniormed | @seniormed | Apr 26 6:36pm

It may be worthwhile to see a neurologist or rheumatologist.An ultrasound of the temporal arteries and carotids are non invasive. Bell’s palsy is usually idiopathic with
uncertain triggers. Unlikely directly related to your procedure. Have your visual status and tests followed regularly for any signs of arteritis.

gently | @gently | Apr 26 9:27pm

The only time I've seen bells palsy it was from shingles. It is rare after cataract surgery and rare indirect when PMR leads to GCA. It can take up to six months to recover.
I would want a consultation with a different eye surgeon in a institution unrelated to the doctor who wasn't helpful. Some blurriness is common for one to two weeks after cataract surgery.
The neurology suggestion is excellent as the dropping may be caused by irritation of a facial nerve.
If you are careful not to suggest that it might have been caused by the surgery, you'll fare better with the docs.
I hope it clears up on it's own, be sure and get the eye drops, but I wouldn't be able to wait.