Origin and Definition: Sir Charles Bell first described this malady in the early 1900's. The medical definitions are as follows: acute form of cranial mononeuropathy VII and is the most common form of this type of nerve damage (peripheral neuropathy). The disorder is a mononeuropathy (involvement of a single nerve) that damages the 7th cranial (facial) nerve, the nerve that controls movement of the muscles of the face. Etiology or "cause" of idiopathic is felt to be a sensory ganglionitis of the central nervous system with a secondary musc ....