Justin Bieber suffers paralysed face due to rare viral condition

The singer told fans via Instagram that he had been diagnosed with the rare Ramsay Hunt syndrome.

The 28-year-old pop star posted a three-minute video explaining the diagnosis. The shocking footage showed Bieber unable to move the right side of his face, his right eye unblinking, as he greeted his fans.

“Hey everyone, Justin here, I wanted to update you guys on what's been going on,” he said.

“Obviously as you can probably see with my face. I have this syndrome called Ramsay Hunt syndrome and it is from this virus that attacks the nerves in my ear, my facial nerves and has caused my face to have paralysis,” said the singer, who boasts over 530 million social media followers.

“As you can see this eye is not blinking. I can't smile on this side of my face ... So, there's full paralysis on this side of my face,” the singer told his fans in the video.

The syndrome is caused by a shingles outbreak that affects the facial nerves. Loss of hearing and facial paralysis associated with the syndrome are usually temporary, though they can be permanent in some cases, according to medical experts.

In his update posted on his Instagram Story, the singer wrote: “Been getting progressively harder to eat which has been extremely frustrating, please pray for me. Can't believe I'm saying this. I've done everything to get better but my sickness is getting worse.”

On Tuesday, Bieber announced that he was postponing the “next few shows” of his seven-leg, 130-date Justice World Tour due to a “non-Covid related illness”.

Bieber is scheduled to perform in Bangkok on November 6 as part of a worldwide tour to promote his latest albums “Changes” and “Justice”, released in 2020 and 2021.