Facial numbness can be caused by various factors, including nerve damage, medication side effects, stress-induced neck tension, migraines with aura, and tumors such as acoustic neuroma. The most common cause is a stroke, which can cause numbness in certain parts of the body depending on which parts of the brain have been affected.
Facial numbness can be caused by a variety of factors. The most common cause of this symptom is disruption or compression of the facial nerves. Conditions affecting these nerves include strokes, trauma, and tumors. Numbness can also be experienced in the face due to medication side effects, neurological phenomena, and some medical conditions, such as diabetes and neuropathy.
The most common cause of facial numbness is a stroke. A stroke causes damage to the brain due to oxygen and blood deprivation. A stroke often causes numbness in certain parts of the body, depending on which parts of the brain have been affected by the lack of oxygen. If the nerves connected to the face are deprived of oxygen, full or partial facial paralysis will result.
Nerve damage is another very common cause of facial numbness. Nerves are what tell the brain what sensations to feel and where. When nerves are damaged, they can cause pain or a complete inability to produce sensations. Nerve damage can occur in several ways. Trauma from a blow to the head or neck can cause facial nerve damage severe enough to lose sensation. Certain medical conditions such as diabetes and neuropathy can also cause facial numbness.
Occasionally, side effects from medications can cause facial numbness. This is usually caused by drugs that work to inhibit neurotransmitters in the brain. This side effect is not very common, but inhibiting neurotransmitters carries the risk of numbness of the whole body or one or two parts of the body, including the face.
Facial numbness can also be caused by stress-induced neck tension. The nerves that supply sensation to the face originate in the neck and shoulders. During stress, these muscles are among the first to become tense. Long periods of this type of tension can pinch these vessels and nerves, causing a loss of sensation in the face.
Facial numbness is also caused by migraines with aura. This particular type of migraine is considered a neurological phenomenon. It describes a migraine with symptoms occurring 10 to 30 minutes before the onset of the headache. One such symptom is facial numbness. Numbness can also affect the tongue or extremities. Migraines with aura can also be experienced as visual hallucinations involving light, temporary blindness, and speech abnormalities.
Acoustic neuroma is another cause of facial numbness. It’s a noncancerous tumor, also called a vestibular schwannoma and a neurolemmoma, that grows on the eighth cranial nerve. This nerve can sometimes press on the nerves that control sensation and movement in the face, which are the trigeminal nerve and the facial nerves, respectively. If they press on one of these nerves, numbness in the face can occur.
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