Can a sudden muscle spasm of one side of the face signal a mini-stroke?

I am concerned about my very stubborn sister. She is 36, obese, borderline diabetic, and has high blood pressure. She called me asking about a sort of spasm/twitch on one side of her face. She described it as "half of her face shooting upwards all of a sudden." She didn't note any other symptoms, but it's possible she could have had more (she's not very in tune to her health and is the type to undermine or shrug things off). This doesn't sound exactly like the symptoms of a TIA that I found online, but I still think she should get it checked out due to her risk factors. Does anyone know if this can signal a TIA, or possibly something else?

My husband had several TIAs about 10 years ago, and muscle spasm was one of the symptoms. Also, it could be Bell's Palsy, look that up. She could have an inflammation of the nerves on that side of her face, so look that up too. Hope she gets better soon!!!

My first thought was Bell's Palsy. However, if half her face seems to her to have shot upward, possibly a TIA has left the other half sagging, so the one side only appears raised?

Bully her into a doctor's visit.

It's called a Hemifacial spasm, a neuromuscular disorder characterized by frequent involuntary contractions of the muscles on the one side of the face. Both men & women are prone to this sickness (age -40 + above). First symptom is intermittent twitching of the eye lid that can force closure of the eye. Gradualy thereafter, involve the muscle of the lower face and eventually involved all the muscle on one side of the face almost continuously. May be caused by facial tumor or blood vessel pressing on the facial nerve, but normally of unknown reason.

However do convice your sister of a choice, it is life or otherwise, since she's very stubborn.