1)      Elderly, hypertension, impairment of taste, pain other than in the ear, complete facial weakness (poor prognosis for recovery from facial paresis)

2)      Bilateral facial palsy (neurologist referral for evaluation for underlying causes)

3)      Recurrent facial palsy (neurologist referral for evaluation for underlying causes)

4)      Development of other cranial palsies

5)      Facial twitch or spasm preceded the development of the palsy (? CNS tumor)

6)      Nystagmus, ataxia, facial numbness, tinnitus (structural lesions in the pons, cerebellopontine angle etc)

7)      Tinnitus, nystagmus, hearing loss (structural lesions associated with temporal bone)

8)      Parotid mass (parotid tumor)

9)      Head injury (intracranial lesions)