[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-148467-en":3,"doc-seo-148467-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},148467,1374391974585,"Genevieve","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",7,"Healthcare","Weekly Acupuncture for a Patient With Hemifacial Spasms - A Case Report","The efficacy and optimal frequency of acupuncture for hemifacial spasms (HFSs) in patients not responsive to or reluctant to standard treatment remains unclear. A man in his 60s with frequent left facial spasms since 2015 had several botulinum toxin injections without microvascular decompression. Acupuncture was delivered using specific meridians and electroacupuncture during serial sessions. After the fourth session, symptoms improved markedly, and weekly treatment maintained reduced severity through later sessions. The findings suggest weekly acupuncture as a potential option, while future prospective trials are needed to confirm effectiveness.","Open Access Case  \nReport DOI: 10.7759/cureus.55219  \nReview began 02/16/2024  \nReview ended 02/26/2024  \nPublished 02/29/2024  \n© Copyright 2024  \nHoribe et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC-BY 4.0. , which permits unrestricted use , distribution , and reproduction in any medium , provided the original author and source are credited.  \nWeekly Acupuncture for a Patient With Hemifacial Spasms: A Case Report  \nGo Horibe 1, 2, Satoru Yamaguchi 1, 2 , Ai Kouchi 1, 2, Shintaro Ibata 1, 2, Toshimasa Yamamoto 3  \n1. Department of Oriental Medicine, Saitama Medical University, Saitama, JPN 2. Department of Oriental Medicine, Saitama Medical University Kawagoe Clinic, Saitama, JPN 3. Department of Neurology, Saitama Medical University, Saitama, JPN  \nCorresponding author: Go Horibe, [ghoribe@saitama-med.ac.jp](ghoribe@saitama-med.ac.jp)  \nAbstract  \nThe efficacy and optimal frequency of acupuncture for hemifacial spasms (HFSs) in patients unresponsive oraverse to standard treatment methods remains unestablished. Here, we administered acupuncture to a patient with HFSs who was dissatisfied with the outcomes of botulinum toxin (BoNT) injections as symptomatic treatment. A man in his 60s, experiencing frequent spasms in his left facial muscles since 2015, had received several BoNT injections without receiving microvascular decompression or medication; however, the treatment results were not satisfactory. In 2020, he visited our clinic for acupuncture. His entire face twitched involuntarily, and the other Babinski sign was observed. The spasm severity was 5 on the numerical rating scale (NRS) . Acupuncture was performed on the gallbladder meridian (GB) 2, stomach meridian (ST) 7, and triple energizer meridian(TE) 17 along the facial nerve and GB14, GB1, small intestine meridian (SI) 18, ST4, ST5, and ST9 on the affected (left) side. In the fourth session, 1 Hz electroacupuncture at ST7 and TE17 reduced the NRS score to 1. As his spasms were well managed, we initially continued with biweekly acupuncture sessions. However, by the 10th session, a worsening of symptoms led to a revert to weekly treatment, which maintained a decreased NRS score until the 21st session. Our findings suggest that weekly acupuncture may be a viable treatment modality for patients with HFSs unresponsive or averse to conventional treatments. Future prospective clinical trials are required to verify the efficacy of acupuncture for HFSs.  \nCategories: Neurology, Neurosurgery, Integrative/Complementary Medicine  \nKeywords: clinical case report, facial nerve, electroacupuncture, acupuncture, hemifacial spasm  \nIntroduction  \nHemifacial spasms (HFSs) are characterized by involuntary contractions or spasms in the facial muscles on one side of the face. The incidence of HFSs is reported to be 0.78 per 100,000 individuals [1] . Almost all patients with HFSs experience these spasms due to demyelination and false synapse formation (ephapses) or facial nerve compression by the anterior, posterior cerebellar, or vertebral artery [1] . An alternative hypothesis suggests that abnormal retrograde conduction due to facial nerve compression by blood vessels leads to hyperfunction of the facial nerve nucleus and subsequent facial spasms [2] .  \nThe standard treatments for HFSs include microvascular decompression (MVD), botulinum toxin (BoNT) injection, and other medications. In 1975, Jannetta et al. reported MVD as a method for alleviating facial muscle spasms via separating the blood vessels from the affected facial nerve [3] . Later, a systematic review of 39 studies reported a spasm-free rate of 90 .5% in patients with HFSs after MVD treatment [4] . BoNT injections are frequently used as a conservative treatment option for HFSs, with efficacy ranging from 73% to 98.4%[5] . However, high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating BoNT injection benefits have not been conducted. In addition, some ","cbCaipaEQRZvYX3q","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaipaEQRZvYX3q","pdf",330214,1,5,"English","en",105,"# Abstract\n# Introduction\n# Case Presentation\n## Treatment course and electroacupuncture response","[{\"question\":\"Why is the optimal acupuncture frequency for hemifacial spasms uncertain?\",\"answer\":\"High-quality evidence has been insufficient, so studies have not clearly established both efficacy and the best treatment frequency for HFS patients.\"},{\"question\":\"What treatment did the patient receive before acupuncture?\",\"answer\":\"The patient had multiple botulinum toxin injections for symptom management, but he did not receive microvascular decompression or other medications and remained dissatisfied with outcomes.\"},{\"question\":\"How did acupuncture frequency affect symptom severity in this case?\",\"answer\":\"After improvement by the fourth session, biweekly acupuncture initially maintained lower severity, but symptoms worsened by the 10th session, leading to a return to weekly treatment, which maintained reduced scores through the 21st session.\"}]","Weekly Acupuncture for a Patient With Hemifacial Spasms - A Case Report | PDF",1787780062,13,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":28},"weekly-acupuncture-for-a-patient-with-hemifacial-spasms-a-case-report","",{"@graph":36,"@context":86},[37,54,69],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/weekly-acupuncture-for-a-patient-with-hemifacial-spasms-a-case-report/148467/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-31","2026-08-26",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"Why is the optimal acupuncture frequency for hemifacial spasms uncertain?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"High-quality evidence has been insufficient, so studies have not clearly established both efficacy and the best treatment frequency for HFS patients.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"What treatment did the patient receive before acupuncture?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"The patient had multiple botulinum toxin injections for symptom management, but he did not receive microvascular decompression or other medications and remained dissatisfied with outcomes.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"How did acupuncture frequency affect symptom severity in this case?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"After improvement by the fourth session, biweekly acupuncture initially maintained lower severity, but symptoms worsened by the 10th session, leading to a return to weekly treatment, which maintained reduced scores through the 21st session.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":88,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":90,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":93},[94,98,102,106,110,115,118,123,128,131,135],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},40,"healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]