Effectiveness of a Multidisciplinary Facial Function Clinic

Objectives: To analyze the usefulness of a multidisciplinary facial function clinic (FFC).

Design: Retrospective case note review.

Setting: The FFC was established in July 2006 at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital with attending consultants from ophthalmology, skull base otolaryngology, plastic surgery, and physiotherapy.

Participants: We retrospectively reviewed the case notes for 59 consecutive patients seen at the FFC from July 2006 to February 2009.

Main Outcome Measures: We documented demographic data, including distance travelled and average journey time.

Results: The 59 patients (mean age, 46 years) made a total of 106 clinic visits (mean, 1.8). The mean distance travelled by a patient was 31.9 miles with an estimated journey time of 47 minutes, each way. At presentation, the average House-Brackmann grade of facial nerve weakness was IV. Advice was needed from an ophthalmologist for 58 patients (98.3%), from an otolaryngologist for 57 (96.6%), from a plastic surgeon for 49 (83.0%), from a physiotherapist for 58 (98.3%), and 4 (6.8%) were referred for psychological counselling. Forty-seven (79.7%) of our patients needed input from all four consultants during their visit at the FFC. By combining the presence of several consultants in one clinic, we saved an average of 5.1 visits (325.4 miles; 8 hours travel time) for each patient.

Conclusion: We and our patients feel our multidisciplinary facial function clinic has been an effective service and has continued to work.