Post-surgery facial feeling?

[arcteryx]

Hi, I was wondering about people's pre & post-op experiences with facial & tongue numbness. At this point the entire side of my tongue is almost completely numb and my face is mostly numb from my forehead to my chin, including my ear and eye (only sensation, no motor problems). Of course, the MRI shows major compression of the trigeminal nerve as the cause. Is this the same as the facial nerve? Does the trigeminal nerve heal after such prolonged compression?

What are the chances that this numbness will resolve after surgery? Are pre-operative symptoms indicative of post-operative complications?

Thanks again for all your great information!

[Kathleen_Mc]

I had a more notible numbness and tingling of my face pre-op, post-op it feels numb all the time.... not as irritating as pre-op sensation but permenent. Kathleen

[Pembo]

I had minimal numbness pre-op. My trigeminal nerve was flattened according the the surgeon. I woke up with full paralysis and numbness on the An side. The numbness affected the whole right side of my head. The feeling is coming back extremely slowly. I'm 20 months postop and over the last couple of months I've noticed a considerable change in the numbness, for the better.

According to my surgeon, the trigeminal does recover albeit VERY slowly.

[stein78]

I had very minor tingling on the left side of my face pre-op, my facial nerve was also flattened.  I had some delayed facial weakness after surgery that lasted three weeks.  During this time my face just hurt, it almost felt bruised, but nothing felt numb.  The taste buds on the left side of my tounge were all messed up too, but that went away in about a month as well.

[luv2teachsped]

Hi; I had extreme numbness on my left side of my face and head pre-op.  About a month or so after surgery, my face started to thaw.  I can remember being really excitied.  At 9 mo post op, almost all of the numbness is gone.  However, my taste buds are still off.  I also had no facial paralysis post surgery. Good luck- luv2teachsped

[Jeanlea]

Hi.  I'm lucky enough to have both facial numbness and paralysis.  The movement is beginning to come back, but I can't really tell much difference in the feeling.  I'm nearly 6 months post op now.  It's good to read that it can a long time and still come back.