Imanurse2

I am not sure, but one possibility is synkinesis. Google it and you'll find plenty of information. I have it going on under my right eye, cheek and lip which sustained nerve damage in a mid face lift procedure nearly 4 years ago. It encompasses twitching of my lower eye area and cheek muscles, as well as and involuntary raising of my right upper lip when I try and squint. I think it worsens when I'm fatigued. It occurs primarily when I lightly squint, which I often do to try and extinguish the awful feeling of "drag" on my lower right lid and improve the sagging appearance of it. I would venture to guess that it is too early for you to tell if it will be permanent. I think I have heard of many individuals experiencing it right after surgery when a gradual waning. And of course it could be a different problem entirely (hopefully). You could ask your doctor what he thinks about syskinesis being the cause. But I wouldn't put money on getting a straight answer if indeed it is. It comes from nerve trauma. I had to learn about this from a different doctor, and when I questioned my own surgeon about it he gave me a totally lame explanation (a lie), and of course told me it was temporary (it wasn't). Over time I am aware of it less and less, but if I'm looking in a mirror I can see it occurring even though I don't feel it happening. I hope it's something temporary for you nevertheless, just proper re-establishment of nerves or something.

You describe some of the same exact problems I had with the same surgery - mid face lift via transcutaneous lower lids. I had surgery over 3 years ago and I regret it every moment. I do not recommend this type of surgery for any reason whatsoever. The stresses placed on the orbital muscles are too great, and that being so even if no damage is done to the important nerves around the eye. To sum up the damage done to me... right orbicularis nerve damage, scleral show right eye, eye asymetry, downward pull in both outer eyes giving me a different sort of sad look, shortened smaller rounder eyes, hollowed out lower orbital space, oddly shaped upper cheek, unilateral lip nerve damage making my smile more of a snear and a pucker that plumps on only one side. The almond shape and pleasant quality of my eye appearance is gone. I have no skin left around my eyes to give me my natural expressions. The contours and softness of my previous cheeks are gone. My cheeks do not bunch up in a happy healthy way when I gently smile anymore - I have to really be grinning to get them up there, and then there are the slack lines in the lower cheeks. At an angle my cheeks have been flattened, with a pointy cheek very high. I look haggard and damaged, very different from my former self. Just as bad if not worse is the physical sensation that my face is not right. Pulling down, tearing, asymmetry in mouth movements, and fatigue and tension around the eyes. Prior to surgery I received enough compliments from both genders in one form or another to understand on some level I was a somewhat attractive person despite my flaws. Since surgery, not one compliment that I can remember. Really. I either am dismissed, ignored, or looked at strangely. The surgeon never admitted any wrongdoing or even that I had less than good result. He would just look at me when I cried, listen to my questions without answering, just basically biding his time until I moved on. He would have tried to correct some of the eye damage with a canthopexy. However, I could not bring myself to go under the knife again, let alone with him. Another surgeon, regarded as a "fixer" of bad eye surgeries, told me the canthopexy would not have helped anyhow as it would have given my eyes an unfavorable "pinched" look. He discounted the palate graft by saying the nominal change in results would not be worth the risks. He basically encouraged not doing anything at all (imagine that, a surgeon who recommends no surgery - refreshing and disheartening at the same time). He said I could expect that over time gravity might help lower my other lid to help even out the look. Great. Not what I was hoping to hear, a symmetrical houndog appearance in my future. Various fillers were suggested and tried to fill in the depressions and even out some of the asymmetry, which they did to some extent, but they are expensive as everyone knows and ripe with their own set of problems and risks. And of course, they don't touch the nerve damage issues of how your face moves, or doesn't. I didn't decide to re-fill, and it's been a couple years since I tried those. They are probably all depleted by now. What I see in the mirror still makes me shudder. I do think my appearance is rapidly worsening with time, accelerated by the fact that my natural pre-surgery support networks of nerves and muscles were screwed around with and damaged. I still hope for some new breakthrough treatment that would restore my eyes, cheeks and lip. I'm in my 40's so I still have a while. But that's more of a dream than anything. I just hope someone out there contemplating this surgery will read this or some other problematic outcome and give it pause. And find something else less invasive and and less risky to aid your problem! I wonder how long before this technique will be viewed as flawed and outdated by ALL surgeons?

You describe some of the same exact problems I had with the same surgery - mid face lift via transcutaneous lower lids. I had surgery over 3 years ago and I regret it every moment. I do not recommend this type of surgery for any reason whatsoever. The stresses placed on the orbital muscles are too great, and that being so even if no damage is done to the important nerves around the eye. To sum up the damage done to me... right orbicularis nerve damage, scleral show right eye, eye asymetry, downward pull in both outer eyes giving me a different sort of sad look, shortened smaller rounder eyes, hollowed out lower orbital space, oddly shaped upper cheek, unilateral lip nerve damage making my smile more of a snear and a pucker that plumps on only one side. The almond shape and pleasant quality of my eye appearance is gone. I have no skin left around my eyes to give me my natural expressions. The contours and softness of my previous cheeks are gone. My cheeks do not bunch up in a happy healthy way when I gently smile anymore - I have to really be grinning to get them up there, and then there are the slack lines in the lower cheeks. At an angle my cheeks have been flattened, with a pointy cheek very high. I look haggard and damaged, very different from my former self. Just as bad if not worse is the physical sensation that my face is not right. Pulling down, tearing, asymmetry in mouth movements, and fatigue and tension around the eyes. Prior to surgery I received enough compliments from both genders in one form or another to understand on some level I was a somewhat attractive person despite my flaws. Since surgery, not one compliment that I can remember. Really. I either am dismissed, ignored, or looked at strangely. The surgeon never admitted any wrongdoing or even that I had less than good result. He would just look at me when I cried, listen to my questions without answering, just basically biding his time until I moved on. He would have tried to correct some of the eye damage with a canthopexy. However, I could not bring myself to go under the knife again, let alone with him. Another surgeon, regarded as a "fixer" of bad eye surgeries, told me the canthopexy would not have helped anyhow as it would have given my eyes an unfavorable "pinched" look. He discounted the palate graft by saying the nominal change in results would not be worth the risks. He basically encouraged not doing anything at all (imagine that, a surgeon who recommends no surgery - refreshing and disheartening at the same time). He said I could expect that over time gravity might help lower my other lid to help even out the look. Great. Not what I was hoping to hear, a symmetrical houndog appearance in my future. Various fillers were suggested and tried to fill in the depressions and even out some of the asymmetry, which they did to some extent, but they are expensive as everyone knows and ripe with their own set of problems and risks. And of course, they don't touch the nerve damage issues of how your face moves, or doesn't. I didn't decide to re-fill, and it's been a couple years since I tried those. They are probably all depleted by now. What I see in the mirror still makes me shudder. I do think my appearance is rapidly worsening with time, accelerated by the fact that my natural pre-surgery support networks of nerves and muscles were screwed around with and damaged. Deepening depression probably plays a big role too. I still wishfully hope for some new breakthrough treatment that would restore my eyes and cheeks and lip. I'm in my 40's so I have a while. But that's more of a dream than anything. I just hope someone out there contemplating this surgery will read this or some other problematic outcome and give pause. I wonder how long before this technique will be viewed as flawed and outdated by ALL surgeons?