ABC Melbourne newsreader Ishkandar Razak has taken time away from broadcasting after being diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, following the sudden appearance of symptoms while he was live on air.
Viewers became concerned last week when part of Razak’s face appeared to be paralysed during a weather report.
Razak later revealed he had been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a condition that causes sudden weakness or paralysis of the muscles on one side of the face.
The presenter first noticed something was wrong while on air last Friday, when he felt as though he was talking from the side of his mouth.
“It’s not a stroke, but as you can see, my face isn’t really reacting as it normally would,” Razak explained in a social media update.
“There’s some paralysation of this side of the face at the moment.”
He thanked viewers who had contacted him with concerns, as well as emergency department staff at The Alfred Hospital, who assessed him.
“What it is, is Bell’s palsy, inflammation of the ear through, or an ear nerve that’s connected up and it means this is slower to react,” he explained.
“I have been able to force myself to make it a bit better when I’ve had to work.
“But keen people have noticed that this eye, more than anything, is really taking its time to shut.
“So I am going to take a few days off, and hopefully this will sort itself out with medication and treatment in a few weeks tops.
“Thank you again to everyone who’s asked, and if you see me with an eye patch on the streets, you know why.”
Razak appeared on ABC Radio Melbourne Afternoons on Wednesday, where he spoke about the frightening experience and his initial fear that he had suffered a stroke.
He said he had been feeling unwell during the week and had a particularly poor night’s sleep before the symptoms appeared.
“The first real inclination that I thought something is probably askew was about 3.45pm, when I was on air with Charlie Pickering and that’s when I felt like I was talking out of the side of my mouth and felt a bit different,” he told presenter Brigitte Duclos.
“At the same time, I was thinking, the worst thing is that something’s really wrong here and it could be a stroke.
“But I’m chatting away and no one’s noticing a thing. Everyone’s listening. No one’s made any comment that my face looks different. I’m completely coherent.
“But when I got home that night, my wife, who is a GP, looked at me straight away and said, ”half of your face has got a droop going on'”‘.
“I couldn’t make a bubble with my face because I’d lost that muscle connection.”
Razak then spent the weekend undergoing tests at the hospital.
“They told me that most people make a full recovery within three to six months,” he said.
The presenter said he had not initially planned to make a public announcement about his condition, but decided to explain his absence after receiving messages from concerned viewers.
“I wasn’t planning on making a huge announcement or anything, but people were reaching out,” he said.
“I was writing four or five personal messages to people and I thought on Sunday, maybe I should explain myself, especially if I’m going to be away for a few weeks.”
Bell’s palsy affects the facial nerve and can cause weakness or paralysis on one side of the face, with symptoms including facial drooping, jaw or facial pain and increased sensitivity to sound, headaches and loss of taste.
About one in 60 Australians will experience Bell’s palsy at some point in their lifetime.
Image: ABC
