Days after my facelift w/fat transfer under eye/cheeks I noticed I had facial weakness/paralisis on one side . I could not lift my eyebrow, I had teary eye and the eye blinking was affected too. Now, 5 months later I have partially recovered but i worry that I still have numbness and my eye will not fully blink (or close evenly) - shape of eye changed (outside corner of eye looks down), droppy eye?, is this due to weakened muscle, is the nerve damage reversible?
Answer: Facial Nerve Injury Post Facelift You definitely need to see your doctor for this.If there is a nerve injury it’s better to recognize and address it early.If you wait too long it may be irreversible. Weakness and numbness can happen early on with a facelift, but usually subsides within a few weeks. Surgeons have the ability to do a nerve study, which can identify any issues. If the nerve is injured due to stretching, then it may be reversible, but if it was cut, it may not be reversible without surgical repair.
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Answer: Facial Nerve Injury Post Facelift You definitely need to see your doctor for this.If there is a nerve injury it’s better to recognize and address it early.If you wait too long it may be irreversible. Weakness and numbness can happen early on with a facelift, but usually subsides within a few weeks. Surgeons have the ability to do a nerve study, which can identify any issues. If the nerve is injured due to stretching, then it may be reversible, but if it was cut, it may not be reversible without surgical repair.
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Answer: Nerve Injury after #facelift I am sorry to hear that you have experience this unfortunate complication. You should definitely see your surgeon for an examination and discuss treatment options based on examination.
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Answer: Nerve Injury after #facelift I am sorry to hear that you have experience this unfortunate complication. You should definitely see your surgeon for an examination and discuss treatment options based on examination.
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June 12, 2024
Answer: Facial nerve injury Dear wxwv2000,I am very sorry to hear about the challenges that you are going through. Facial nerve injury is a very rare event in facelift surgery and the consequences are both physically and emotionally tough for all affected people. The prognosis of your recovery is directly related to the particular nature and extent of the injury, the resulting functional compromise, and viability of the remaining facial nerve segments. These factors, when taken together, allow one to forecast your recovery and review any therapeutic options that may, or may not, be necessary. It is helpful to know that the injury was within the last year. It is also important that your eye closure on the affected side is intact and to have any exposure addressed so as to prevent any symptoms related to eye exposure which can lead to eye injury. A general principle in treatment of facial paralysis is the allowance for the surviving facial nerve to have the opportunity to reinnervate the facial musculature. EMG (electromyography) is a gold standard method in assessing facial muscle nerve innervation and is standardly performed in all patients who have a facial nerve paralysis of 12 months or greater. Light facial massage in the regions of injury help to stimulate nerve reinnervation to the given region. Hopefully this is helpful to you and I hope you are doing well.My best,James Ridgway, MD, FACS
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June 12, 2024
Answer: Facial nerve injury Dear wxwv2000,I am very sorry to hear about the challenges that you are going through. Facial nerve injury is a very rare event in facelift surgery and the consequences are both physically and emotionally tough for all affected people. The prognosis of your recovery is directly related to the particular nature and extent of the injury, the resulting functional compromise, and viability of the remaining facial nerve segments. These factors, when taken together, allow one to forecast your recovery and review any therapeutic options that may, or may not, be necessary. It is helpful to know that the injury was within the last year. It is also important that your eye closure on the affected side is intact and to have any exposure addressed so as to prevent any symptoms related to eye exposure which can lead to eye injury. A general principle in treatment of facial paralysis is the allowance for the surviving facial nerve to have the opportunity to reinnervate the facial musculature. EMG (electromyography) is a gold standard method in assessing facial muscle nerve innervation and is standardly performed in all patients who have a facial nerve paralysis of 12 months or greater. Light facial massage in the regions of injury help to stimulate nerve reinnervation to the given region. Hopefully this is helpful to you and I hope you are doing well.My best,James Ridgway, MD, FACS
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September 22, 2015
Answer: Facial nerve injury Facial nerve weakness is a rare but the ne'er standby distressing complication from a facelift. The good news is that 80 percent of facial nerve problems after facelift will resolve on their own, but could take up to one year.
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September 22, 2015
Answer: Facial nerve injury Facial nerve weakness is a rare but the ne'er standby distressing complication from a facelift. The good news is that 80 percent of facial nerve problems after facelift will resolve on their own, but could take up to one year.
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September 18, 2015
Answer: Facial nerve injury Nerve damage is reversible if the nerve is only stretched and not cut. In this case, the injury is called neuropraxia and nerve function usually returns by 3 months time. If the nerve is cut, the injury is called axonotmesis and recovery of function may not return. The loss of brow function suggests injury to your temporal branch. If it has returned, the injury was only a neuropraxia. If your brow function has returned, yet you are unable to close your eye fully, an orbital branch of the temporal nerve was injured or the zygomatic branch of the facial nerve was injured. There are multiple nerve branches to the orbicularis muscle that makes the eye close and many times these multiple branches compensate for the loss of a few injured branches. At 5 months, it may be a consideration to undergo a canthopexy to correct the lateral lower lid lag you are experiencing.
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September 18, 2015
Answer: Facial nerve injury Nerve damage is reversible if the nerve is only stretched and not cut. In this case, the injury is called neuropraxia and nerve function usually returns by 3 months time. If the nerve is cut, the injury is called axonotmesis and recovery of function may not return. The loss of brow function suggests injury to your temporal branch. If it has returned, the injury was only a neuropraxia. If your brow function has returned, yet you are unable to close your eye fully, an orbital branch of the temporal nerve was injured or the zygomatic branch of the facial nerve was injured. There are multiple nerve branches to the orbicularis muscle that makes the eye close and many times these multiple branches compensate for the loss of a few injured branches. At 5 months, it may be a consideration to undergo a canthopexy to correct the lateral lower lid lag you are experiencing.
Helpful 1 person found this helpful