Parkinson’s Disease steals much from us and the most difficult to overcome is the loss of facial expressions. This symptom, called hypomimia, is more commonly known as facial masking and interferes with the person’s ability to control the muscles in their face resulting in a somewhat frozen demeanor. The Person with Parkinson’s finds it difficult to communicate with others thereby increasing isolation and the risk of depression. It was something I first experienced with my father thirty years ago, and more recently with my husband.

In Dad’s case, his facial masking was one of the first symptoms to show. His medical doctor actually mentioned that he should have recognized it years before. As his illness progressed, he withdrew and hid behind this mask. Without facial expressions, we had no idea what was going on in his mind. Occasionally he would get a few words out so we could see glimpses of the man he used to be and know he was still in there somewhere.

My husband lost his facial control slowly until one day when I realized he no longer smiled. He had such a beautiful smile; it was one of the things that first attracted me to him. The only movement present in his Parkinson’s face was the tremor that took over during off times with medications. In addition to losing his smile, his lack of expression made it increasingly difficult for us to communicate. He has a quirky sense of humor that can come off wrong when not accompanied by appropriate facial gestures. His disease put a wall around him and I was having a really hard time breaking through. I was so surprised when he woke up from Deep Brain Stimulation surgery and smiled for the first time in years. The surgery brought back his smile and all his other facial expressions allowing us to break through that PD wall and reconnect.  

For more information about this see Facial Masking | Parkinson’s Foundation.