ANA Discussion Forum
Archive => Archives => Topic started by: amymeri on July 26, 2006, 06:59:27 pm
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Well after 3 months my dent is developing from the suboccipital surgery. I knew I would get a dent....but it developed quickly once it started and it kind of freaks me out. Plus it aches in spots. The screw bump is still there. The ENT surgeon looked at it an seemed unconcerned. The docs seem to think it is the overlying tissue atrophy that makes the screw more noticable.
Do you have a dent? Did is ache ever? Can you feel any hardware?
Amy
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Amy - in May of 2004, my husband had surgery to remove a benign tumor called a meningioma. The neurosurgeon said it's "a neurosurgeon's dream" - meaning it was right at the top of his head and easily accessible. In the past two years, his "dent" has gotten worse and worse (luckily he's not completely bald yet) and he still has pain once in awhile near his screw holes. All the docs that see him and look at it tell him it's nothing to be concerned about. Luckily all his MRI's have come back clean with no regrowth. So, I guess it's not uncommon to have a lumpy head.
Sheryl
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I have a dent on the side of my forehead on the same side as the tumor. It is not really even close to where my incision is located. It doesn't hurt, but it looks a little peculiar. Apparently it is noticeable because one of my third graders asked my head was dented. lol
Jean
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I had middle fossa and developed my dent about 2 months out. My surgeons told me it is very common. When I touch the center of it, it causes weird sensations through my ear, down my neck. and will increase the tinnitus for a few minutes.
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I have a deep dent behind my ear shell. It used to hurt when I touched it. Now it is just a dent, no pain, and it seems to be filling in a little.. I don't think others can see it. In the beginning my ear lobe stuck out from my head in an odd tilt. Now the tilt is gone down and I look same as pre-op. I haven't heard that translab causes dents on the forehead until reading the post here.
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I have several small dents from my middle fossa surgery. They feel weird to the touch and there is one spot that feels as though one of the screws is just under it. They do not hurt though. I noticed them about 3 months out. I have so much hair that it is not noticeable at all, just to the touch. I do get an occasional sharp stabbing pain.
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HinAmy! I am a dent head too! I had translab over a year ago, and have a dent behind my ear, kind of soft and squishy. Once in A while I still get sharp shooting pains, but they don't last. My Dr. said it was all normal. luv2teach
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MAJOR TRANSLAB DENT HEAD HERE!!
About 6 months post op my nice, smooth site changed into a dent. The fat was absorbed by my body they say. No reason to go in for a refill, the seal is still nice and tight. ::)
Kathy
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Me too!!
In fact, I have two indentations. The first dent is on the top of my forehead, next to where the shunt goes into my skull - maybe they should have smoothed it over with more bone cement? The other is behind my left ear and at the base of my skull. There seems to be an
entire section of bone and cartilage missing. There's a titanium mesh in there someplace but I've never been able to feel it. My most visable and dramatic sign is the shunt on top of my forehead. It's a collapsible, pump-like device that protrudes from under the skin like a mountain ridge. There is a cathetar that goes into the skull on one end - where the indentation is - and the other snakes across the side of my head, down the right side of my neck, across my chest - just beneath the skin - and disappears down in my abdominal region. There is an accompanying scar on the right side of the abdomen along with the incision made for adipose tissue to plug the dura up on the opposite side. Those abdominal incisions hurt the worst when healing up!
I have a friend who is from England that lives up in the wild and wooly hinterlands of Western Maine. As a teenager living in England, he was attacked in a fight and had a hammer imbedded in his skull. The doctors that worked on him couldn't believe he survived the attack at all, never mind walking away from it without any problems. He's now in his early forties and in good health. You should see the indentation in his head!!
Paul
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Jeez, Paul--how very Borg-like! I need your mailing address--I got you a totally rockin' bandana! You are really a miracle!
I have both dents and lumps from my middle-fossa. I wear glasses and right after surgery I was afraid my glasses arm was making a really big dent, so I took the arm off the glasses for a couple of months. My little screw-lumps (interesting word) become inflamed when I'm having a headache and last week my new Headache Wizard gave me about 5 trigger-point shots around them (5 of about 20 shots.)A couple months ago, my hair stylist got a little carried away and cut my hair around my incision a little too short and I had a definite visible part along my incision--grew out in about 2 weeks.
Capt Deb 8)
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I have a circle shaped dent on the "crown" of my head from the "burrhole" and a very long and wide dent in an arc shape behind the ear, the one behind the ear has slightly calcified over the years but is still there and the one of the crown of my head is just as it was the day it was done (except now has hair. People find it kinda creepy and neat at the same time when I make them rub my head if they don't belive me when I say I've had brain surgery (there's the proof I say and have them touch my head).
I find if I get a really bad headache it feels like my brain is squishing out through these spaces.(I usually comment "Capt'n it's gonna blow when someone asks if I've a headache.....usually they can tell because often my face gets really puffy with my headaches).
Kathleen
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Ahoy Captn' Deb!!
I'll be sending you a personal message with requested information! I am amazed you said that about the bandana! I wear do-rags all the time to cover up the Borg-like appearance of the shunt! I'll wear the bandana you send me at my gigs, photograph it and send you a few pics!
Tomorrow morning it's off to Brunchworld with my fellow A.Ners'!! A roundtable conference In Worchestershire!!!
Alac!.....I must telephone Phyl in regard to this!
Paul
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Not so much a "dent head" as...
"The Dark side of the Moon"..
With all the whistling as well, it sure sounds like it too !
Best regards
Tony
p.s. would you call that a "Floydian slip ?"
p.p.s. sorry...