Restoring Smiles after Facial Paralysis

This story at Forbes.com talks about a procedure being used to restore the ability to smile by patients who have lost that ability due to facial paralysis. The most notable gains made among patients having the surgery are reduction in depression and increase in happiness. Those seem laudable goals for the procedure, called temporalis tendon transfer, in a Baltimore study lead by Dr. Patrick Byrne, director of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery in the department of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The study, discussed in more detail at The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) The following quote from the Forbes story sums it up quite nicely.

"Facial paralysis is absolutely devastating. When you talk to patients, what bothers them the most of all the myriad problems, the inability to smile is the number one thing mentioned by these patients," Byrne stated. "People who smile are happier, and people who can't smile are depressed. It really affects the brain. There's no question we've seen this in these patients. They are happier and more upbeat after having this procedure."