Bristol Palin Shares Update on Mystery Facial Paralysis: ‘Not Looking Great’

Bristol Palin is offering a candid update on the facial paralysis that has affected half of her face for almost a year.

In a Jan. 3 Instagram Stories post, the 35-year-old shared a clip from a Dec. 9 “Ask Me Anything,” responding to a follower who asked whether there had been any progress in her condition.

“If anyone’s wondering, today’s day 323 of my face being paralyzed,” Palin said.

She added that things were “not looking great,” removing her sunglasses to show that movement has still not returned to one side of her face. “Not a whole lot of movement,” she explained.

Palin, the daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, also shared that she plans to eventually use Botox to treat her left eye, noting that it “gets so small when I smile or when I’m expressive at all.”

“Could be worse, could be better,” she said, ending on a light note. “At least I’ve got cute sunglasses.”

Palin’s struggle began in January 2025, when she revealed that doctors believed she was experiencing Bell’s palsy. She recalled waking up with a strange sensation in her face, noticing that her mouth appeared pulled to one side.

“Within a couple hours, the entire left side of my face was numb and just paralyzed,” she said at the time. “Couldn’t really blink my eye. Definitely had no movement on the left side of my face. So crazy.”

According to John Hopkins Medicine, Bell’s palsy is a sudden weakness or paralysis of the facial muscles, typically affecting one side of the face. While it is not usually permanent, recovery timelines vary, and in rare cases symptoms may persist. Most people see improvement within six months, a much shorter period than what Palin has experienced.

Common treatments include steroids, antiviral medications, and physical therapy. Palin previously shared in a February update that she has tried “everything imaginable” in hopes of resolving the condition.