The facial nerve: how to find it.

Iatrogenic facial paralysis is one of the most serious and most dreaded complications of temporal bone surgery. The risk of this complication as well as the duration of surgery can be reduced if the otologic surgeon can promptly identify the facial nerve at any stage of an operation. This is especially important in cases of anatomic variation and pathology which obscures or distorts normal anatomy. Twelve different surgical techniques will be described which allow the surgeon to safely expose and identify the facial nerve throughout its course through the temporal bone at any stage of an operation.