Webster's New World Medical Dictionary

face, masklike
An expressionless face with little
or no sense of animation; a face that is more like a
mask than a normal face. Masklike face is seen in a
number of disorders, including Parkinson’s disease
and myotonic dystrophy. Also known as masklike
facies.
facelift
A surgical procedure that is designed to
make the face appear younger by pulling loose
facial skin taut and tightening and repositioning the
underlying facial musculature. Excessive skin
and/or fat may be removed during the procedure.
Supplemental procedures—including necklift, ble-
pharoplasty (eyelid surgery), autologous fat injec-
tion, forehead lift, and browlift; chemical or laser
peel; and malar (cheek), submalar, or chin
implants—may be necessary to achieve the desired
results. Although they are infrequent, risks and
complications of facelift surgery include bleeding;
hematoma; bruising; infection; neurological dys-
function (loss of muscle function or sensation),
which is usually temporary; widened or thickened
scars; loss of hair around the incision site; asymme-
try (unevenness between two sides); and skin
necrosis (loss of skin due to tissue death). Also
known as rhytidectomy.
facial canal introitus
The entrance to the facial
canal, a passage in the temporal bone of the skull
through which the facial nerve (the seventh cranial
nerve) travels. In anatomy, an introitus is an
entrance that goes into a canal or hollow organ.
facial nerve
The seventh cranial nerve, a nerve
that has fibers both going out and coming in (both
efferent and afferent fibers). The facial nerve sup-
plies the muscles of facial expression. See also
facial nerve paralysis.
facial nerve paralysis
Loss of voluntary move-
ment of the muscles of one side of the face due to
abnormal function of the facial nerve. Paralysis of
the facial nerve causes a characteristic drooping of
one side of the face, inability to wrinkle the fore-
head, inability to whistle, inability to close an eye,
and deviation of the mouth toward the other side of
the face. Numerous conditions can cause facial
nerve paralysis including infections, inherited dis-
eases, tumors, toxins, and trauma. Bell’s palsy is the
development of facial nerve paralysis without an
identifiable cause. The disease causes paralysis of
the muscles of the side of the face on which the
facial nerve is affected. One goal of treatment is to
protect the eye on the affected side from dryness.
Sometimes corticosteroid medication is given to
reduce inflammation during the first weeks of ill-
ness. Surgical decompression to reduce swelling
and pressure on the affcted nerve may also be 
performed.