Bristol Palin is explaining why she hasn’t shown her face on Instagram in a while — and her reason is pretty solid.

In an Instagram story posted Monday to her account, the 35-year-old daughter of former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, told her followers she’s had facial paralysis for over a year and has a plan to get it fixed.

“I’m going to have a consultation today with a plastic surgeon in Austin,” she said in her video, which was recorded and uploaded to YouTube by Page Six. “I’ve read that she specializes in facial paralysis type stuff so we’ll see what she says.”

“Prayers because maybe she can help mostly with this eye,” she continued, pointing to her left eye and demonstrating what happens when she smiles.

“When I smile or when I’m expressive, it closes. I don’t really care about my crooked mouth, but my eye...” Palin said. “So embarrassing to me. I feel like I should wear an eyepatch or something.”

“It looks crazy, and I just feel like I can’t even smile because it just closes,” she added. “So maybe she can do some Botox or maybe there’s some options with surgery. So we’ll see! Maybe she can help with this eye or just the overall symmetry.”

In January 2025, Palin announced in an Instagram story, via Access Hollywood, that she had been dealing with facial paralysis for over a week.

“I woke up nine days ago with a little weird sensation in my face,” Palin told her followers. “My mouth was pulling …and it just felt a little off. So I looked in the mirror, and I’m like, ‘Wow, this is looking a little weird.’”

She said a few hours later the entire left side of her face was numb.

She said doctors weren’t sure what her condition was, but speculated it may be Bell’s Palsy — a condition that causes sudden on-set weakness in facial muscles on one side of the face. The condition is usually temporary, however, and improves over the course of several weeks.

Palin said in her video at the time she thinks it was “brought on by stress” and was regaining sensation back in her face.

The former “Teen Mom OG” star did not mention in her most recent video if her diagnosis has changed.

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