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A congenital disorder is a condition that exists at or before birth, regardless of cause. Congenital facial paralysis can affect children starting at birth, having a significant impact on a child’s life. While there are the obvious physical side effects of this condition, children will also face emotional issues associated with facial paralysis that can affect their self-confidence, relationships, and ability to put themselves in situations where they must connect with others.

The ability to smile is something that most of us take for granted. We don’t truly understand how important it is for us to be able to express ourselves until that ability is taken away. Facial paralysis often causes people to lose the ability to smile or express themselves through facial expressions. Facial paralysis is the loss of facial movement resulting from inflammation, injury, infection, or absence of the facial nerve or facial musculature.

There are millions of nerves running through your body. They tell you when something itches, hurts, feels uncomfortable, or when something feels nice (like a neck massage). These sensory impulses are highways where transmissions run back and forth to control movement and bodily reactions. The facial nerve controls the movements of the forehead, eyes, mouth, and neck.

Facial paralysis is the loss of facial movement resulting from inflammation, injury, infection, or absence of the facial nerve or facial musculature. Most of the time, facial paralysis affects only one side of the face, causing an asymmetrical appearance. While the embarrassment of asymmetrical features can cause issues to a person’s self-esteem and confidence, many people with Bell’s palsy also face speech impairment that affects their lives.

The term synkinesis means "simultaneous movement." Facial synkinesis refers to the simultaneous movement that occurs where the facial nerve has been damaged, cut and sewn back together, or after Bell's palsy. Suffers of Bell's palsy typically make a full recovery, but the facial nerve fibers may be implanted into different muscles that cause synkinesis. Those who have undergone surgery, or who suffered severe trauma and the facial nerve had to be resewn, may find that the facial nerve fibers reconnect to the wrong nerve group. Both of these situations can lead to undesired and simultaneous facial movements.