On Friday, Justin Bieber announced that he has Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, a rare disease that has paralyzed half of his face.
“It’s this virus that attacks my ear nerve and my facial nerves and has caused my face to become paralyzed,” the pop singer Bieber said in a video posted to his Instagram account. , making a gesture next to his head. “As you can see, that eye doesn’t blink. I can’t smile on that side of my face. That nostril doesn’t move.”
He said he would cancel his next tour dates as “physically, obviously, he’s not able to make them.”
We spoke with health experts about the causes and treatments of the disease.
What is Ramsay Hunt Syndrome?
Ramsay Hunt Syndrome is a neurological disease caused by the chickenpox virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox in children and shingles in adults. The virus can stay in your body for the rest of your life, even long after you have recovered from chickenpox, and wake up again to irritate and inflame the nerves in your face.
“The nerves that go through your face go through very narrow bone channels, and when they become inflamed they swell and lose their ability to function,” said Dr. Anna Wald, a specialist in infectious diseases at the School of Medicine. University of Washington. .
The disease affects men and women alike and can cause paralysis on one side of the face and painful, blistering rashes. It is more common in the elderly, and some patients experience changes in their hearing, may hear louder sounds in one ear than the other, or develop tinnitus (a chronic noise in the ears) or even deafness in one ear. Ear and face pain is often a part of the syndrome, and some patients may experience dizziness.
Only five to ten in 100,000 people develop Ramsay Hunt Syndrome each year. “It can happen to anyone,” said Dr. Waleed Javaid, director of infection prevention and control at the Mount Sinai Center in New York City. “But it’s not something people should be afraid of.”
The syndrome is officially known as herpes zoster oticus; its most common name comes from neurologist James Ramsay Hunt, who first described the disease.
According to researchers, people with the syndrome may take a long time to receive an accurate diagnosis. The term Ramsay Hunt is notoriously vague and the disease can have symptoms similar to Bell’s palsy, which can also induce facial paralysis. Doctors often diagnose Ramsay Hunt syndrome by identifying small blisters that have appeared on a patient’s ear, Dr. Wald said.
How is Ramsay Hunt Syndrome Treated?
Most people with Ramsay Hunt recover completely, although the duration of the disease can vary, said Dr. Michael Ison, a professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. “Some people take weeks. Some people take months,” he said. In rare cases, however, facial paralysis or hearing loss may be permanent.
Treatment for Ramsay Hunt usually involves taking antiviral drugs. Some patients may also be prescribed a steroid, Dr. Wald said. Physical therapy is not recommended for patients, he said, but it would not be harmful.
Mr. Bieber said on his Instagram post that he was practicing facial exercises as part of his healing. “I have to go rest,” he said, “so he can get his face back where he’s supposed to be.”