Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26397271›Full record

Trial reportPlastic and reconstructive surgery2015

Electrical Stimulation of Eye Blink in Individuals with Acute Facial Palsy: Progress toward a Bionic Blink.

Alice Frigerio, James T Heaton, Paolo Cavallari, Chris Knox, Marc H Hohman, Tessa A Hadlock

Open access · greenAbstract readClinical TrialVideo-Audio Media
In one paragraph

Trial report in Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
21citing papers in PubMed
3.8field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

21 citing papers in PubMed, 46 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Human eyelid behavior is driven by segmental neural control of the orbicularis oculi.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  4. Review
  5. Review
  6. Future treatment options for facial nerve palsy: a review on electrical stimulation devices for the orbicularis oculi muscle.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2024
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. High-resolution ultrasonography of the normal extratemporal facial nerve.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2018
    Article
  18. Selective Stimulation of Facial Muscles Following Chronic Intraneural Electrode Array Implantation and Facial Nerve Injury in the Feline Model.Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology · 2017
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Alice FrigerioMilan, Italy; and Boston, Mass. From the Human Physiology Section, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano; the Facial Nerve Center, Carolyn and Peter Lynch Center for Laser and Reconstructive Surgery, Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Otology and Laryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School; and the Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
James T Heaton
Paolo Cavallari
Chris Knox
Marc H Hohman
Tessa A Hadlock
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary · US

Funding

Surgical and Rehabilitative Management of Facial Nerve InjuryR01NS071067 · NINDS · MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY · PI HADLOCK, THERESA A · 2010 to 2020
$4.6M
NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS071067
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundElicitation of eye closure and other movements via electrical stimulation may provide effective treatment for facial paralysis. The authors performed a human feasibility study to determine whether transcutaneous neural stimulation can elicit a blink in individuals with acute facial palsy and to obtain feedback from participants regarding the tolerability of surface electrical stimulation for daily blink restoration.

methodsForty individuals with acute unilateral facial paralysis, HB grades 4 through 6, were prospectively studied between 6 and 60 days of onset. Unilateral stimulation of zygomatic facial nerve branches to elicit eye blink was achieved with brief bipolar, charge-balanced pulse trains, delivered transcutaneously by adhesive electrode placement; results were recorded on a high-speed video camera. The relationship between stimulation parameters and cutaneous sensation was analyzed using the Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale.

resultsComplete eye closure was achieved in 55 percent of participants using stimulation parameters reported as tolerable. In those individuals, initial eye twitch was observed at an average current of 4.6 mA (±1.7; average pulse width of 0.7 ms, 100 to 150 Hz), with complete closure requiring a mean of 7.2 mA (±2.6).

conclusionsTranscutaneous facial nerve stimulation may artificially elicit eye blink in a majority of patients with acute facial paralysis. Although individuals varied widely in their reported degrees of discomfort from blink-eliciting stimulation, most of them indicated that such stimulation would be tolerable if it could restore eye closure. These patients would therefore benefit from a biomimetic device to facilitate eye closure until the recovery process is complete. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, IV.

Indexed as

BlinkingTranscutaneous Electric Nerve StimulationAdultAgedBionicsFacial NerveFacial ParalysisFeasibility StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedProspective StudiesTreatment Outcome

Identifiers

PMID26397271
PMCPMC8996820
OpenAlexW2415198071

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.