Bristol Palin Gets Candid About Facial Paralysis Amid Worrying Update
What To Know
- Bristol Palin shared an update on Instagram revealing that her facial paralysis, diagnosed as Bell’s palsy, has persisted for 323 days with little improvement.
- She demonstrated ongoing paralysis on the left side of her face and mentioned plans to get Botox to help with her left eye’s appearance.
- Despite trying various treatments and limited progress, Bristol remains positive and lighthearted about her condition.
Bristol Palin has shared an update on her facial paralysis one year after waking up with the entire left side of her face “numb.”
Taking to her Instagram Stories on Saturday (January 3), the daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin shared a clip from an “Ask Me Anything” she hosted on December 9, in which a follower asked whether there was any “progress” on her condition.
“If anyone’s wondering, today’s day 323 of my face being paralyzed,” Bristol said in response to the question, per People. “Not looking great.”
She then removed her sunglasses to reveal that the left side of her face is still paralyzed. “Not a whole lot of movement,” she added.
Bristol Palin Instagram
The Dancing With the Stars alum went on to discuss how she plans to deal with the condition. “This eye,” she said, referring to her left eye, “I will eventually get Botox in it. It just gets so small when I smile, or when I’m expressive at all.”
Despite the less-than-stellar update, Bristol remained upbeat, quipping, “Could be worse, could be better. At least I’ve got cute sunglasses.”
Bristol, who featured in the TLC reality series Sarah Palin’s Alaska and MTV’s Teen Mom, first revealed her facial paralysis in January 2025. “I woke up nine days ago with a little weird sensation in my face,” she said on social media at the time. “My mouth was pulling this way, and it just felt a little off. So I went, looked in the mirror. I’m like, ‘Wow. This is looking a little weird.'”
She continued, “Within a couple hours, the entire left side of my face was numb and just paralyzed… Couldn’t really blink my eye. Definitely had no movement on [the left side] of my face. So crazy.”
Bristol revealed that doctors believed she was suffering from Bell’s palsy. According to the Mayo Clinic, Bell’s palsy “causes sudden weakness in the muscles on one side of the face,” resulting in half of the face appearing to droop, a one-sided smile, and difficulty closing the eye on the affected side.
Symptoms usually start to improve after a few weeks; however, “a small number of people continue to have some Bell’s palsy symptoms for life.”
Bristol previously told her followers she’s tried “everything imaginable to resolve this.”
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