Clinical Research Progress on Acupuncture Treatment of Peripheral Facial Paralysis

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive review of clinical research literature on acupuncture treatment for peripheral facial paralysis from 2020 to 2026, aiming to provide scientific evidence for optimizing clinical protocols and individualized diagnosis and treatment. Existing studies indicate that the advantages of early acupuncture intervention in the acute phase are continuously supported by clinical evidence. Different acupuncture techniques, such as meridian acupuncture, fire needle therapy, and electroacupuncture, each have their specific therapeutic focuses. Multimodal approaches combining acupuncture with massage, cupping, traditional Chinese medicine, and modern neuroregulation techniques show potential for synergistic enhancement. Acupuncture exerts therapeutic effects through multiple pathways, including regulating inflammation and immunity, improving local microcirculation, promoting nerve regeneration, and inducing central brain functional reorganization. Simultaneously, this article analyzes the shortcomings of current research, such as inadequate methodological quality, difficulties in implementing blinding, unclear descriptions of randomization methods, inconsistent outcome measures, and difficulties in distinguishing specific effects. It proposes that future research should rely on neuroelectrophysiology to establish individualized decision-making models, deepen mechanistic translational research by combining multimodal imaging and multi-omics technologies, standardize clinical trial design, and construct an individualized acupuncture diagnosis and treatment model.