NOW I OW we are starting what to me seems the most important part of this symposium.
When we first started operating on cases of Bell's palsy, I suggested that we postpone surgery for two months, because upon reexamination of the large number of patients conservatively treated I found that those who did not show signs of mobility within two months did not recover completely. I knew that many nerve fibers would be degenerated by that time, but I was afraid to discredit the operation by doing it at an earlier date. Then the time was gradually reduced to six weeks, to four weeks, and then electromyography came into the picture. This test would tell us if there were any signs of denervation but not till, two to three weeks after the onset, which is too late.
Then the nerve excitability test entered the picture, which gives us information of