Facial nerve  Ramsay Hunt syndrome (herpes shingles oticus) happens once a shingles eruption affects the nervus facialis close to one in every of your ears.

In addition to the painful shingles rash, Ramsay Hunt syndrome will cause facial paralysis and hearing disorder within the affected ear.

Ramsay Hunt syndrome is caused by a similar virus that causes chickenpox. After chikenpox clears, the virus lies dormant in your nerves. Years later, it may reactivate.

If the virus reactivates and affects your facial, the result's Ramsay Hunt syndrome. Usually, the rash and also the facial palsy develop at a similar time.

But in some cases, the rash will occur before the facial paralysis or the paralysis before the rash. Sometimes the rash never materializes.