Bristol Palin plans to try something new to treat her ongoing facial paralysis, but says 2026 “doesn’t look very good”.
“These eyes,” she said in a video posted to her Instagram Stories on Saturday, indicating that the side of her face was suffering from the condition. “Eventually I’m going to get Botox.”
“When I smile or express myself, I become so small,” she lamented.
The clip was taken from Dec. 9’s “Ask Me Anything” segment, where a fan asked Palin, 35, if she had any “updates” or “progress” on her condition.
Palin took off her sunglasses to reveal her face and said, “Some people may be wondering, but today is the 323rd day that my face has been paralyzed…It doesn’t look good.”
“It could be worse, it could be better. At least I have cute sunglasses,” she concluded.
According to the National Institutes of Health, Botox is an effective treatment for many forms of facial paralysis.
The daughter of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was first diagnosed with the neurological disease in January 2025 and said it was “stress-induced.”
“I woke up nine days ago with a little weird feeling on my face,” the “Teen Mom OG” alum said on her Instagram Story at the time. “My mouth was pulled towards me and it felt a little strange.”
“Within a few hours, the whole left side of my face went numb, just numb,” she continued. “I couldn’t really blink, I couldn’t move the side of my face at all. It was just crazy.”
She explained, “They think it’s just a case of Bell’s palsy, caused by stress and lack of sleep. I think it was caused by stress.”
She was initially prescribed steroids for this condition, which she reported was a “great improvement from how she initially appeared” and allowed her to “regain some feeling.”
Palin has been transparent about her multiple cosmetic surgeries, but she has since shared her story about her facial paralysis, saying she has learned to view the condition through a more positive lens and will never “discriminate against herself” because of her appearance again.
“When I’m feeling anxious, I’m going to remember this and be grateful for a functioning face, because this has been tough,” she said.
