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Persistent Pain a Year and Half After Face Lift
I had a Face Lift surgery performed 1.5 years ago. During three post-op visits to my surgeon, I addressed the issue of tingling in the right side of my face (the area closest to my ear and upper neck). Even the slightest touch to that area feels like needles pricking my skin. My surgeon told me that the nerves are taking a while to reattach and that in time all will heal. However, the tingling feeling has never gone away. I even reflexively pull away and wince when my baby touches me in that area. Since I have mentioned this numerous times to the same physician, I'm looking for additional opinions. Thank you for your consideration.
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21 Doctor Answers |
Asked by
AnnChloe
in Seattle, WA
+3
Pain After Facelift
I am very sorry to hear of your pain.
An injury to a sensory nerve (the Greater Auricular Nerve is the most typical) is possible during Facelift.
Although the painful sensations usually resolve with time, at this point, try the following:
sensory re-education: stroke the area of tenderness as much as you can reasonably tolerate. This can desensitize the nerve.
steroid injection may reduce nerve irritation
massage
medication: there are some specialized...
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+3
Tingling after plastic surgery
Dysesthesia, or an unpleasant sensation occurring this long after surgery may warrant further treatment.
Is there scarring or tethering that is causing the problem?
Usually nerve pains such as this go away shortly after surgery with massage and desensitization therapies. Patients are often surprised to find out that massage, though unpleasant at first, can often reduce or eliminate this type of nerve pain. Instinctively, the patient protects the area, but this just makes the problem worse...
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+2
Pain after facelifting
Depending on the nature and location of the pain, it may be worth re-elevating the skin (flap). This has been reported to allow the nervers to re-innervate the skin.
While this isnt definitive, it is a simple enough thing to try to relieve your symptoms as this isnt typical.
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Persisting pain after face lift may be a neuroma
Sounds like you may be describing a neuroma. When nerve endings try and re-estable connections, they sometimes don't find the right connections. This then develops into a small ball of nerve endings which can be quite painful, even at the slightest touch. This can usually be corrected with additional surgery where this ball of nerve ending can be excised and buried. Either see your physician about this or seek another surgeon that can help you.
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Greater auricular nerve injury after facelift surgery.
You describe a neuroma in the greater auric ulnar nerve . This is a sensory nerve that supplies sensation to the ear. Injury to this nerve can also cause sweating in the cheek area when chewing.
The treatment at this point is to explore the nerve find the neroma excise and repair. Not a 100% cure rate but the next step in my option after a year and a half.
see video
San Francisco Plastic Surgeon
+1
Persistent Pain 1.5 Years after a Facelift
Dear AnnChloe,
It sounds like the great auricular nerve was injured during the facelift. This injury can be common after a facelift. Usually, altered sensation in this area ranging from decreased sensation to hypersensitivity can be experienced for up to 3-6 months after the surgery. In cases of hypersensitivity, it is best to stimulate the area with touch and different materials. You can start with a feather and work your way up to more firm objects/textures....
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Pain long after a face lift
The source of your pain needs to be localized before it can be treated.
Your problem is called dysesthesia. At this point you are most likely to have
a trapped nerve
a neural excitatory problem (nerves haven't calmed down since surgery).
an underlying nerve problem made worse by surgery.
What to do: 1. have your surgeon find the trigger point and numb it. Do this 3 x a week for two weeks, while you retrain the nerve. (stroking skin to...
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Persistent pain 18 months after facelift
Pain 18 months after the procedure is certainly not normal. It is not unusual to have this in the first few months after surgery but it typically goes away within the first 6-12 months. I agree with trying massage as an initial step. Although it seems counter intuitive, it may help decrease your sensitivity. Evaluation by a neurologist might be helpful if the massage does not adequately relieve your symptoms.
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Unusual pain after face lift surgery!
Sorry to hear that you're experiencing discomfort with your face lift procedure. This is an unusual event. Out of nearly two thousand face lift procedure I have performed, I had one patient in the past that experienced similar prolonged discomfort. After treatment with Neurontin, Kenalog injection to the triggered point, as well as massaging her discomfort resolved. Wish you well.
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Chronic pain after facelift.
Prolonged pain after surgery is very uncommon and as such there is no protocols or extensive studies that support the most common causes. There are multiple reasons why chronic pain may be present.
One of the reasons would be increased sensitivity or irritibility of the nerves. In my practice I have seen this a few times in patients with MS or other neurological problems.
Plastic surgery of the face just like any surgery can increase the patients sensitivity and result in...
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An unusual complication
This is an unusual complication after a facelift. Your physician is correct that it may take considerable time for the nerves to heal after a surgical procedure. Every patient will heal differently and it is hard to know exactly your situation without an examination. It some circumstances, an evaluation by a neurologist or a pain specialist could be beneficial.
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Persistent Pain After A Facelift
Persistent pain after a facelift is highly unusual. Some diagnoses to be considered:
Hypertrophic Scar or Keloid- Can give the sensation of pain after the procedure, particularly at night. Treated with Kenalog injections which can treat this quite effectively.
Neuroma- Highly unusual to see after a facelift. In cases where surgeons have to cut the greater auricular nerve (i.e Parotidectomy), neuromas are rare. In fact, studies did not see a...
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+1
Pain After Face Lift
The Great Auricular Nerve is susceptible to injury during the Face Lift procedure. It is a sensory nerve to the side of the neck and the lower ear and has no motor function so an injury will cause no muscle weakness only the pain syndrome described. Stroking the skin in the region of the injury will stimulate the nerve and cause the pain sensation. The problem can be solved by exposing the end of the injured nerve stump and implanting it into the underlying muscle which...
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+1
Greater auricular nerve damage can yield persistent pain after facelift.
From the position of your pain and its distribution, it sounds like there might be damage to the Greater Auricular nerve. This is an easily fixable problem. The neuroma on the end of the nerve can be buried deep in the muscle upon which it sits. Anesthesia of a portion of the ear will be a side effect.
+1
Pain after facelift
The sensations you are having are very unusual to be occurring 1.5 years after your procedure. You may have an injured greater auricular nerve. As you have read this may be a severed nerve or a neuroma. Steroid injections can help. There are also reports of Botox helping with issues like this.
+1
Persistent pain after facelift
The tingling that is occurring on the right side of your face closest to the ear is probably related to a neuroma on the greater auricular nerve. After a year and a half this is not going to get better on its own.
There are two things to consider that may help you.
A simple cortisone shot into the area of point tenderness over the right side of the neck may help with decreasing the neuroma formation further and relieve the pain. It will not relieve the numbness.
Additionally,...
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Facelift Pain
A generalized, albeit temporary loss of sensation in the area of the skin flaps is not unusual after Facelift surgery. It typically resolves within 3-6 months and sensory nerve re-growth ( 1mm per day) is heralded by tingling sensations known as parasthesias. Permanent and/or uncomfortable sensations are referred as dysethesias and usually relate to some abnormality in nerve regrowth such as a neuroma. I have seen a number of patients who have had quickie lifts elsewhere experience this...
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Tingling post facelift
A year and a half after surgery is a long itme to have tingling. This usually goes away a few weeks after surgery. You may have a neuroma or an injured sensory nerve to the side of the cheek and ear. I would first have it evaluated by a neurologist and pain control doctor and perhaps you may need additional surgery to treat the neuroma.
+1
Tingling 1.5 years after facelift is unusual
While tingling after a facelift can most certainly indicate nerve regrowth, it is unusual 1.5 years after a facelift but I would not completely loose hope. As others have pointed out, it may represent a neuroma and be amenable to massage, steroid injections, or possibly. I would wait another 6 months and if it is still persistent, I would consider reoperation to try to excise the area of concern.
+1
A neuroma can cause persistent facial pain
While I have not seen anything like this in my own facelift practice, it does sound as though you might have a "neuroma" which is a tangled ball of nerve endings that didn't grow back properly. Massage and time can help. Sometimes exploration and excision are necessary.
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Post-Facelift Pain
Tingling does occur as sensation returns after facelift surgery, but not 1.5 years later. Massage or tapping the area does sometimes help.
At this stage ask your surgeon for a referral to a physician who specializes in neurology or pain management for medication or treatment.
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