Justin Bieber postpones tour after illness leaves his face partially paralysed

Danny Jones

The singer posted a lengthy video displaying the effects

An illness most common in those over 60 has seen Justin Bieber‘s face left partially paralysed and forced to postpone the rest of the dates on his current tour.

The 28-year-old pop star took to Instagram to inform his followers of the current situation after the diagnosis led him to postpone a number of shows in Washington, DC and Toronto earlier in the week.

In the nearly three-minute-long video, the Canadian singer explains how he contracted a virus which has, in turn, caused Ramsay Hunt syndrome, an illness which essentially results in paralysis and hearing loss.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CeorE9OjqX9/?hl=en

As he details in the lengthy post: “Obviously, as you can see from my face, I have this syndrome called Ramsay Hunt syndrome, and it is from this virus that attacks the nerve in my ear and my facial nerves and has caused my face to have paralysis.”

According to the Mount Sinai Medical System in New York, “Ramsay Hunt syndrome is a painful rash around the ear, on the face, or mouth. It occurs when the varicella-zoster [a.k.a chickenpox and/or shingles] virus infects a nerve in the head.

The rash tends to affect one ear, causing hearing loss along with partial paralysis. Around five in every 1,000 people developed the syndrome itself as it affects people who have already had chickenpox/shingles (the adult form of the virus) and is most common in people aged 60 or older.

Bieber goes on to say, “as you can see, this eye is not blinking. I can’t smile in this side of my face. This nostril will not move, so there’s full paralysis on this side [left] of my face.”

Despite describing the condition as “pretty serious”, patients recover anywhere between a few weeks and a few months and the musician is said to be doing “facial exercises to get [his] face back to normal.”

it isn’t the first time member of the Bieber family have been hit with health recently either, as it was only back in March that his wife Hailey was rushed to hospital with a blood clot on the brain.

Thankfully, the 25-year-old model was able to recover from her “mini-stroke” after an operation and has since revealed that the procedure required doctors to close a hole in her heart.