Bell's Palsy Sir Charles Bell first described this malady in the early 1900's. The medical definitions are as follows: acute form of cranial mononeuropathy VII and is the most common form of this type of nerve damage (peripheral neuropathy). The disorder is a mononeuropathy (involvement of a single nerve) that damages the 7th cranial (facial) nerve, the nerve that controls movement of the muscles of the face. Etiology or "cause" of idiopathic Bell's Palsy is felt to be a sensory ganglionitis of the central nervous system with a secondary muscle palsy. The muscle paralysis is caused by inflammation and autoimmune demyelination instead of ischemic compression. What