Botox?

[newmommyLA]

It has been a long time since I posted on this forum.  I had my surgery almost four years ago and was expecting a much better outcome given the small tumor size.  That said, it could have been worse.  I had facial paralysis on day 2 after surgery and was a Brackman 6 for a few months.  I have "recovered" most of my facial, but anytime I see myself in a photograph I look very different on my AN side.  My AN eye opens about half as wide as the good side and all my wrinkles are on non-AN side only.  I guess I am blessed to half a one sided face lift!  It affects my eyebrow and my eye not to mention the wrinkles bit.  Of course, I have total dry eye on AN side to boot.  I am thinking of botox.  Any suggestions?

[millie]

Hi new mommy!
We have a lot of feelings and symptoms in common...a little sharing...
I have not posted in a couple months due to a sad downturn in my mom's health, and I was the major caretaker.
I have just checked in, curious about Botox as I now can address my own health issues. My trans lab was October 17th 2012 and I have some facial paresis.  I have been doing exercises as per a therapist at NYU but my left side feels taut and just does not do what the good side does.Folks who don't know me see no difference in my face.  Like you, I feel I  have a half face lift and some folks might say the paresis side looks less wrinkly but the sensation is really annoying. When I make an expression my left side does not complete it, and it feels tight.  I make letters with my mouth, "p" and "O" and "m" and others, and my left eye gets smaller with the muscle movement. My doctor said maybe Botox would help relax the facial muscles as they are coming back aggressively and even over compensating.
I do not know what the side effects of Botox might be.  Neither do I want to feel tighter.
 I go in to NYU tomorrow to talk T therapist Sarah Zaluski.  I will keep you posted.
Your an friend
Millie

[Lillygold]

I have the same problem with my face on the An side. I was told that Botox would not help me. It may make it droop. Iam going to see a physical med person what ever that is. Guess I will have to live with eye closing when I eat, tightness on left side, uneven look etc. My surgery was Nov 13, 2012

[DHJ]

3 months post op I received my first botox injection around my smile muscles on the good side and this evened out my mouth and allowed me to perform facial therapy on the weak side. I continued with Botox every 3 months for a year and even received a shot in the neck to relax my strong side. All the muscle therapy let to some synkinesis as my nerve reactivated.Now 20 months post op I have a eye lid weight and my face is pretty good but i still do not like pictures.Botox did help with no side effects   Peace Dave J

[Brewers7]

I have had botox, both for synkenesis and for cosmetic purposes.  I cant say that it helped much with the synkenesis, but it woks great for cosmetic, especially releasing the wrinkles on the unaffected side.  I also get it in my chin to hide the dimple.  To my knowledge there are no side effects.  Both the good and bad thing about Botox is that it is temporary, lasting 3  - 4 months.  My insurance does not cover it, even when it was just for synkenesis.

[millie]

Hi all...
When I went to the plastic surgeon, he said I was a good candidate and injected my neck (an side) all up and down, on top of cheekbone, into/above labial fold into nose...it did not hurt as I have had many root canals.
It is three weeks later; I really don't know if it helped. My eye still does the same thing (closes a little like a squint where once it was just rounder and did not blink as much)and I still feel tightness when I speak or make expressions...I do get a bit depressed over this...it is very annoying and I am thinking of it all the time...sometimes, I think I am droopier on my an side-so which is worse, face lift or droop...and my head has been feeling full up there.

on a positive note, however, I had an MRI with contrast day before yesterday, and while I have not been to my surgeons, my internist(during a routine checkup) was able to read the neuro-radiologist report of that MRI and there is no sign of tumor. I am grateful for that.

I go back to plastic surgeon Oct 9...am trying to do exercises more faithfully. I think the Botox was supposed to help.,relax the nerve as it became restored, for as it tried to become restored, it sort of worke d  too hard and thus, the tightening.  Now I am afraid my nerve is done healing and it won't get any better?

[jaylogs]

Hey there, how are you doing? Long time no see! I am sorry to hear you've had facial paralysis problems   I hope you find a solution that works for you! Take care and let us know how it goes!
Jay