Chronic tonsillitis is a common otolaryngological disease worldwide. The treatment of choice is tonsillectomy, which is one of the most frequently performed procedures in Ear, Nose and Throat Departments. As with any surgical procedure, there are possible complications. Among them, rarely encountered and reported mainly in the pediatric population, is a short-term, transient facial nerve palsy resulting from local anesthetic administration. Here, we present a rare case of a 20-year-old woman with recurrent angina, who developed short-term, fully transient peripheral facial nerve palsy immediately after tonsillectomy under local anesthesia.
Keywords: facial nerve; laryngology; surgery; tonsillectomy.