The purpose of this investigation was to explain the spontaneous course of idiopathic facial palsy without treatment of any kind. The investigation included 1011 patients seen over a fifteen-year period. The patients were checked at short intervals until remission occurred, and these checks were discontinued only when normal function was restored or after a period of one year. For 85 percent of patients the first signs of remission were observed within three weeks after the outbreak; for the last 15 percent remission occurred three to six months later. Seventy-one percent recovered normal mimical function of the face, 13 percent had insignificant sequelae, and the last 16 percent had permanently diminished function with contracture and associated movements.