June 10, 2022 -- Justin Bieber stunned fans on Friday afternoon after posting a video on his Instagram account revealing he is currently experiencing facial paralysis.
The singer said he has been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome -- a rare disease that occurs when a shingles outbreak attacks facial nerves close to one of your ears.
The disease is in the same family of viruses that causes chickenpox: the varicella-zoster virus.
In the video post, Bieber is shown unable to move one side of his face.
“As you can see this eye is not blinking,” Bieber said. “I can’t smile on this side of my face. This nostril will not move.”
A few hours later, Bieber posted an Instagram story saying: “Been getting progressively harder to eat which has been extremely frustrating, please pray for me.”
It is unclear when Bieber was diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. However, the news comes after the singer recently canceled upcoming shows on his 2022 Justice World Tour due to an “undisclosed illness.”
The star says he is hopeful for a full recovery and is taking time to do facial exercises and rest.
Infections usually clear up within a couple of weeks, but some people can have lingering nerve pain. In rare cases, surgery is needed to ease pressure on the nerve in the face.
Around 5 out of 100,000 individuals in the US are affected by Ramsay Hunt Syndrome and the disease makes up about 7% of acute facial paralysis cases, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
To learn more about the virus that causes Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, click here.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the virus that causes Ramsey Hunt Syndrome is in the same family of viruses that causes chickenpox and monkeypox. Monkeypox is an orthopoxvirus