Abstract: OBJECTIVE To search for the optimal time and method for the acupuncture treatment of peripheral facial paralysis and predict its prognosis.METHOD One hundred and eighty-six patients were divided into a treatment group and two control groups.In the treatment group,both acupuncture and drugs were used,with electrical needles used during the recovery phase;in the control group one,western medicine was used in both the acute phase and the recovery phase;in the control group two,acupuncture alone was used during the acute phase and no electrical needles were used during the recovery phase.CONCLUSION The therapeutic effect obtained in the treatment group was better than the control groups with shorter duration of treatment(P<0.05),and no marked differences were found between the two control groups(P>0.05).This suggests that during the acute phase it is effective to apply acupuncture on the diseased side of the face.Different methods have different kinds of effect,and the optimal method is to use both acupuncture and drugs during the acute phase use electric needles as soon as possible during the recovery phase.