HEALTHBristol Palin Admits Facial Paralysis 'Could Be Permanent': 'I Can't Look at Photos of Myself Right Now'
Earlier this year, Bristol Palin revealed one side of her face suddenly became paralyzed, though she's been working with doctors to try and heal.
Bristol Palin shared an update on her health after revealing in January that she was struggling with partial facial paralysis.
On Thursday, July 18, the mom-of-three was asked how she's been doing "emotionally" since receiving the diagnosis, to which she replied in an Instagram Story, "I feel like I’m handling it well."
However, she also confessed she was going through some hardships.
Bristol Palin's Facial Paralysis 'Could Be Permanent'
Bristol Palin's facial paralysis began in January, but these days, her face is '70 percent back to normal.'
"I can’t look at pictures of myself [right now]," Palin, 34, admitted, though she said her face is "probably 70 percent back to normal."
The Teen Mom alum also noted the condition "*could* be permanent, but I don't think it will be — it is slowly improving. My doctor thinks it will be another 3 months before I'm *hopefully* back to normal."
Palin explained it happened "completely out of the blue — no warning, wasn't sick, didn't get the [vaccine], no recent Botox... just paralyzed."
When Did Her Face First Freeze Up?
Though the condition has improved, the mom-of-three admitted it 'could be permanent.'
The reality TV personality first detailed the condition in January, telling fans the first symptom was a "little weird sensation in my face."
"My mouth was pulling this way," Palin explained motioning to the side of her cheek. "It just felt like a little off. So I went and looked in the mirror and was like, 'Wow. This is looking a little weird.'"
"Within a couple hours the entire left side of of my face was numb and just paralyzed. I couldn’t really blink my eye, definitely had no movement on this side of my face," she continued, calling the situation "so crazy."
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Medical Tests Came Out Clean
Palin was prescribed steroids, as doctors couldn't find an underlying cause.
The Dancing With the Stars finalist had a CT scan and tests before being prescribed "steroids and other medications."
"Nothing came back," she said of the results. "They think it’s just a case of Bell’s palsy maybe brought on by stress or lack of sleep. I think it was brought on by stress."
MayoClinic describes Bell's palsy as "a condition that causes sudden weakness in the muscles on one side of the face. Often the weakness is short-term and improves over weeks. The weakness makes half of the face appear to droop."
The MTV alum is hoping she can be completely back to normal within three months.
Nearly a month later, Palin revealed she couldn't "move the left side of my face at all," noting it's "really hard to blink."
"I’ve been doing all the things," she said of trying to fix the situation. "I’ve been doing acupuncture, lymphatic massage, oxygen chamber treatment, red light therapy, cutting out almost all of the processed foods, eliminating most caffeine."
