I get why people can control their eyes while paralyzed, but why can they not control the rest of their face usually? I didn’t think those nerves went through the brain stem either.
In: Biology
The muscles of your face and senses are controlled via cranial nerves, which all originate at different spots. Cranial nerves 1-6, which include the nerves that control the eyes (2, 3, 4, and 6) are located in the cerebellum and midbrain. The nerves that control the rest of the face, 7 and on (with the exception of 5) are in the brainstem (pons and medulla) which go through the big hole at the base of your skull. Obviously the biggest predictor of function is where that lesion is that caused the paralysis, but generally speaking the eye nerves are in the brain, and the face muscles are in the brainstem/spinal cord.
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