Preserving the Smile

Parkinson’s Disease can take away the very basic but vital skills that we treasure and sometimes take for granted. Facial masking, or loss of obvious facial emotion can make identifying a Parkinson’s patient’s state of emotion very hard to read, by observation. Due to muscle tightness and rigidity in the jaw and facial muscles, some patients find it difficult to smile.

Just taking the time on a daily basis and scrunching your face in the mirror, wiggling your tongue back and forth, and squinting your eyes and face can be a great way to keep the face a little more limber. That’s what I do!

A smile is not to be wasted nor forgotten. Use your smile and share it with the world. Sometimes we forget to smile and the power that comes with it. If those facial muscles are a challenge for your smile, do what you can to work to keep those facial muscles as limber as you can and keep that bright smile. A smile is a viral gift that often comes back, when shared with others.

We shouldn’t have to, but Parkinson’s disease may make us have to practice smiling, instead of just doing it naturally.