Bell's Palsy: Conditions With Similar Symptoms

Topic Overview

Other conditions that can cause symptoms that are similar to those of Bell's palsy include:

• Stroke .
• Head injury.
• Ear infection or disease (acute or chronic otitis media, malignant otitis externa, or cholesteatoma).
• Brain tumor .
• Shingles (Ramsay Hunt syndrome).
• Infectious diseases such as chickenpox , mumps , mononucleosis , Lyme disease , HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) , or syphilis .
• Other diseases such as giant cell arteritis , Guillain-Barré syndrome , or sarcoidosis .