Spontaneous return of facial motion following seventh cranial nerve resection.

Four patients who had undergone operative procedures, wherein substantial segments of the VIIth cranial nerve had been resected, experienced some degree of reanimation of the muscles of expression despite the fact that no restitutive measures were employed. The site of insult was in the face in two; the temporal bone in one; and the fourth occurred in the cerebellopontine angle. Teeth-clenching and grimacing were practiced before a mirror by each subject, and one wonders if "re-education" of dormant trigeminal nerve fibers might have facilitated the rehabilitation which was achieved.