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RHS is named after the neurologist who discovered it in 1907. Symptoms vary from person to person but can cause severe discomfort or pain. Most sufferers become paralysed on one side of the face and develop a characteristic ear rash.

The affected facial muscles may become weak or stiff, preventing the patient from smiling, frowning or shutting the eye on that side of the face. Speech may become slurred in some cases. Blisters can spread to the mouth area. Hearing loss or ringing in the ear could be other symptoms.

The virus which causes RHS is the varicella zoster, which also causes chickenpox in children and shingles in adults. A person who has had chickenpox as a child can carry the virus in a dormant form for decades. When the virus gets reactivated - for unknown reasons - the person develops shingles, and in some cases RHS.

RHS is generally treated with antiviral drugs such as acyclovir and famciclovir. Corticosteroids like prednisone are also provided. Physiotherapy, if started on time, enables a full recovery. But about a third affected experience after-effects.