Peripheral facial nerve paralysis after peritonsillar infiltration of bupivacaine: a case report.

Peritonsillar infiltration of a local anesthetic solution for reduction of posttonsillectomy pain is commonly used although the benefit and complications of this technique have not yet been well established. We report a case of a 4-year-old boy who developed peripheral facial nerve paralysis after perioperative infiltration of bupivacaine and uneventful tonsillectomy. The paralysis was noticed a few minutes after extubation and resolved completely after 8 hours. We assumed this to be caused by the direct action of the local anesthetic agent on the facial nerve.