The 29-year-old gave an update after being diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome last year
Justin Bieber shared an update on his Ramsay Hunt syndrome diagnosis on social media recently.
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“Wait for it,” read the words on an Insta story, Rolling Stone reports. And then he flashed a full smile. The significance of this was it was his first full smile in nine months.
The 29-year-old Canadian singer was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a condition that causes facial paralysis and one he shared with his fans online in June last year.
The syndrome is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox.
“After chickenpox clears up, the virus still lives in your nerves. Years later, it may reactivate. When it does, it can affect your facial nerves,” reads the information from Mayo Clinic.
The syndrome occurs when a shingles outbreak impacts the nerves in the face and the ear. “In addition to the painful shingles rash, Ramsay Hunt syndrome can cause facial paralysis and hearing loss in the affected ear,” adds Mayo Clinic.
“Obviously as you can probably see with my face,” Bieber said in a video shared online last year. Turning the left side of his face to the camera, he pointed out how he is unable to blink and smile.
“So there is full paralysis on this side my face. So for those who are frustrated by my cancellations of the next shows, I’m just physically obviously not capable of doing them. This is pretty serious as you can see,” he said at that time.
As per a 2022 study published in National Library of Medicine, the condition impacts five per 100,000 people per year, and “there are cases reported in patients ranging from 3 months of age to 82 years.”
An eight-year-old with the same condition as Bieber recently told BBC News that the star’s diagnosis will further create awareness.
“A big Bieber fan, Ethan has had the condition since he was six years old,” BBC reports.
