ANA Discussion Forum

Post-Treatment => Facial Issues => Topic started by: ToyYoda on August 26, 2017, 09:49:47 am

Title: Having a facial nerve graft surgery in less than two weeks
Post by: ToyYoda on August 26, 2017, 09:49:47 am

Hello all!  I'm almost 6 months removed from the retrosigmoid approach and had many complications, including facial nerve paralysis. 

After a followup in early August, my ENT noticed my paralysis was not improving.  He and my facial surgeon put me as a 6 on the House Brackmann scale, meaning basically no movement on my left side of the face. 

My facial surgeon has now scheduled a nerve graft surgery for September 7th.  The details are at the following link: https://www.facialparalysisinstitute.com/treatments/masseter-facial-nerve-transfer/ (https://www.facialparalysisinstitute.com/treatments/masseter-facial-nerve-transfer/). 

The paralysis also has affected my vision on the left side and my eye is constantly needing drops and cannot close on its own.  A gold weight in the eyelid did help a little but it still does not fully close.  I'm hoping to get back some of my movement and my eyelid to close on its own.

Title: Re: Having a facial nerve graft surgery in less than two weeks
Post by: Kathleen_Mc on September 01, 2017, 02:11:19 am

Good luck on OR day

Title: Re: Having a facial nerve graft surgery in less than two weeks
Post by: alabamajane on September 01, 2017, 07:57:49 am

Best wishes for a very successful surgery!
 I hope it greatly improves your quality of life as well,,,

Jane

Title: Re: Having a facial nerve graft surgery in less than two weeks
Post by: ToyYoda on September 01, 2017, 08:01:01 am

thanks!  I'll be replying here after surgery and in the following months for progress!

Title: Re: Having a facial nerve graft surgery in less than two weeks
Post by: vickieastwood on September 02, 2017, 02:40:05 pm

Good luck with your surgery! Keep us informed how it goes.

Title: Re: Having a facial nerve graft surgery in less than two weeks
Post by: ToyYoda on September 11, 2017, 11:50:27 am

Had my post op appt to remove sutures and drains from each side of my face today.  Now, we wait.  It will be upwards of 6 months before I start to see any sensation or tingling in my left side.  While this second surgery was the smaller of the two, it actually ended up being longer in surgery (6 hours for the retrosigmoid approach vs. 7.5 hours for the nerve graft surgery).  I'm feeling quite tired today but nothing compared to the first surgery.  Thanks for all the well wishes!

Title: Re: Having a facial nerve graft surgery in less than two weeks
Post by: alabamajane on September 11, 2017, 01:41:35 pm

Thanks for posting and well wishes for a speedy recovery from this last surgery !!

Jane