Abstract
The most common disease of the facial nerve is Bell's palsy. This disorder affects nerve peripherally. Regarding causation of Bell's palsy, a viral agent has long been suspected, but its definite cause has not been found yet. Familial occurrence of Bell's palsy is occasionally seen, so inheritance has been suspected in its ethiology too. In this paper, 6 cases running through two generations of an Iranian family with Bell's palsy are described. No any other neurologic disorder has been seen among cases. This report demonstrates the role of heredity as an ethiologic factor in Bell's palsy, and the mode of inheritance possibly to be autosomal dominant inheritance.