Comparison of the efficacy of prednisolone versus prednisolone and acyclovir in the treatment of Bell’s palsy

Objectives: To compare the efficacy of 2 regimens ofprednisolone versus prednisolone and acyclovir in thetreatment of Bell’s palsy.Methods: A retrospective study was performed on 496Bell’s palsy patients attending Yahyanejad Hospital, Babol,Iran from 1995 to 2004, divided in 2 groups. The first groupwas treated with regimen one (oral prednisolone), and thesecond group was treated with regimen 2 (oral prednisoloneplus oral acyclovir) for 2 weeks. All cases were followedfor 6 months.Results: Two hundred and forty-eight cases (108 males,140 females) were treated with regimen one, and 248 cases(113 males, 135 females), were treated with regimen 2.Both groups had a mean age of 20-39 years. At the end oftherapy, the recovery rate with regimen 2 was 95.6% (237patients), whereas regimen one showed a recovery rate of91.2% (226 patients) (p=0.047).Conclusion: This study showed acyclovir plus prednisoloneto be more effective than prednisolone alone in the treatmentof Bell’s palsy.