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This is because the diagnosis is not one of exclusion (despite this being commonly how it is described), a lower motor neurone facial weakness where all alternative causes have been eliminated, but rather a positive recognition of a clinical syndrome, with a number of exclusions, which are described below. This perhaps would be more accurately referred to a \u2018Bell's palsy syndrome\u2019. Treatment with corticosteroids improves outcome; adding an antiviral probably reduces the rates of long-term complications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/practneurol-2016-001383","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,3,31]],"date-time":"2016-03-31T23:19:02Z","timestamp":1459466342000},"page":"439-444","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":35,"title":["Bell's palsy syndrome: mimics and chameleons"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Geraint","family":"Fuller","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology, Gloucester Royal Hospital, Gloucester, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cathy","family":"Morgan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology, Gloucester Royal Hospital, Gloucester, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,3,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025090411490057000_16.6.439.1","unstructured":"Matthews WB . 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