Spontaneous trigeminal-facial reinnervation

Abstract

Although spontaneous recovery of denervated facial muscles has been anecdotally recorded in the clinical setting, it has never been fully documented. The establishment of anastomoses between the terminal trigeminal and facial nerves provides a possible explanation of this phenomenon. Mechanisms of myoneurotization have also been described, by which regenerating branches of severed peripheral motor nerves directly reach motor end plates of denervated muscles, with variable recovery of function. A case demonstrating unequivocal clinical evidence of trigeminal-facial cross-innervation is presented, and the pertinent literature is reviewed as it applies to the mechanisms of this phenomenon.