Still pictures “sort of� give you an idea.
What is the real documentation is “video�. Because my NMFT is out-of-state I make videos, following her script, in the same place with the same lighting each time. I then send these in the mail – she views them and we discuss the progress on the phone. This way we see what movements are improving and what are still off. Soon we will be set up for long distance
secure video conferencing... so we don’t have to wait for the mail/courier delay. (Yeah -lets here in for the engineers who developed the internet!!)
EG
In the earlier days I would stick out my tongue and it would pull to one side- now it is straight. When I used to purse my lips my eye closed… now I can now purse my lips without lower eyelid involvement… “if� I concentrate.
I highly recommend making video tapes… it also gives you feed back of what abnormal movements need correcting.
E.g.
When I close my eye I cannot see what my cheek is doing in the mirror- but I can in the video tape. My cheek still pulls up. I was not aware of this until I viewed the video… so I went back and have decided to keep wearing the eye weight until I have this movement nipped-in-the-bud. My eye does not need the eye weight- but my cheek still does because I am using it to get full eye closure- which is increasing abnormal moments (and perhaps abnormal nerve wiring to the muscles- i.e. motor neurons)
It is much like a dancer practicing for a whole season in front of a mirror- then moving on to dress rehearsal not knowing how in sync they are- or not. Often I would video (film) my dancers before their dress rehearsal stage …so they can see what others see. It always amazed me how much they improved, and finally listened to me, “after� they saw for themselves -the video.
When I first viewed video of how bad my synkinesis was I was mortified and it was a harsh experience…. However it motivated me to work much harder, and more diligently, at the prescribed exercises. I really see NMFR much like dance training… you have to keep repeating the movement until it becomes automatic in the brain. Most people cannot do a pirouette immediately- it takes training and practice- particularly if you are to do one in sync with other dancers beside you. The facial muscles are much like this as we try to get one side to match the other… it takes practice.
“Still photography� will not show you the “animation� of the face. I find that I can get a better still picture now of my smile but what I really want is more normal facial movement so people don’t look at me so strangely when I talk to them. Still photography can lie - however the raw video footage cannot. It helps you to see what others see and forces you to work more at it… Video is providing me with the honesty I want even if at times it is painful for me to watch my videos… Nevertheless this month’s video showed much improvement from previous months… This is all going at a snails pace. But hey here in the PNW I know that the snails eventually gets there – being that my bedding plants were eaten up as soon as the rains started up again- by snails. Snails do eventually reach there destination…
DHM … doing the
snail face dance 
