Comparison of the efficacy of prednisolone versus prednisolone and acyclovir in the treatment of Bell’s palsy

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of 2 regimens of prednisolone versus prednisolone and acyclovir in the treatment of Bell’s palsy.

METHODS: A retrospective study was performed on 496 Bell’s palsy patients attending Yahyanejad Hospital, Babol, Iran from 1995 to 2004, divided in 2 groups. The first group was treated with regimen one (oral prednisolone), and the second group was treated with regimen 2 (oral prednisolone plus oral acyclovir) for 2 weeks. All cases were followed for 6 months.

RESULTS: Two hundred and forty-eight cases (108 males, 140 females) were treated with regimen one, and 248 cases (113 males, 135 females), were treated with regimen 2. Both groups had a mean age of 20-39 years. At the end of therapy, the recovery rate with regimen 2 was 95.6% (237 patients), whereas regimen one showed a recovery rate of 91.2% (226 patients) (p=0.047).

CONCLUSION: This study showed acyclovir plus prednisolone to be more effective than prednisolone alone in the treatment of Bell’s palsy.