Canadian pop star Justin Bieber left fans in tears when he announced that his face was partially paralyzed by a viral condition called Ramsey Hunt Syndrome, caused by the same virus, varicella zoster, which causes chickenpox and shingles.
The virus that attacks the singer is a rare neurological disease that occurs when the varicella-zoster virus infects a nerve in the head near the inner ear.
Ramsey Hunt syndrome can also cause hearing loss on the affected side of the face. Like Bieber, it can also cause weakness, sagging face or paralysis on the part of the person who has been attacked by the virus.
This weakness can cause difficulty in closing one eye, facial expression and eating, as food can fall from the side of the weakened mouth.
After you have had chickenpox as a child or shingles as an adult, the virus can lie dormant in your body. It is not known why the virus reactivates and causes Ramsey Hunt’s symptoms.
The virus can involve a painful rash in the ear canal and outside the ear, sometimes attacking the tongue and covering the mouth, according to Icahn Medical School in Mount Sinai. Due to affecting the inner ear, people with the disease may also suffer from dizziness (feeling dizzy or things around you) or tinnitus, ringing in the ear.
Treatment, according to a CNN report, consists of steroids such as prednisone to reduce inflammation and pain medications. Antiviral drugs that help with the herpes family, such as acyclovir or valaciclovir, may sometimes be prescribed. Full recovery is not certain. However, some recover after a few months. The earlier it is caught, the greater the chance of recovery.
Hailey Bieber’s husband told fans in a YouTube video on Friday that the virus had attacked “a nerve in my ear, facial nerves and paralyzed my face. You see, that eye doesn’t blink. I can’t smile from this side on my face. That nostril won’t move. “
Justin Bieber assured fans that “he will be fine” and that he is “doing facial exercises to get my face back to normal.”
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