for those of you that had temp. facial palsy/numbness, how long did it take...

[rjp]

Informal survey...

for those of you that had temp. facial palsy/numbness, how long did it take to come back?
does it come back everywhere at the same time, or could the eye start moving better first, then the mouth? etc..


Im 3 months out, nothing has happened yet.... 
I had hoped for some sign that I was getting better, but so far nothing.

What usually happens, is there a few weeks of tingling or other sensations as that will be a sign of the pending improvement?

RJP

[Boppie]

Did everything move when you woke up in the hospital?  Did the doctor label it as temporary or weakness.  Your doctor gave a rating to the condition of your face post op.  You could ask about that. 

It comes back in spurts and jerks, not to make a pun.  It is important not to manipulate it too much, but a warm wash cloth twice a day does help the muscles relax.  You might notice some sore spots around your eyebrow, cheek bones, nasal folds, and lips.  These are all signs of healing.  Keep patience! 

Many of us had temporary facial issues.  A few have long term paralysis, but their doctors saw signs post op. 

[nancyann]

Hi RJP:

Like Boppie said, it's important to know if you had movement post op.  Most times the facial nerve is stretched, the time it takes to come back varies.
Then there are those (few, thank God), whose facial nerve was cut;  I'm over 7 months out, no movement; it may be another 1 1/2 years before I
see movement (if I do at all).

The neurologist told me the first area to come back is the mouth, the cheek & eye area takes the longest.

Best wishes, Nancy

[amymeri]

At about 4 months I noticed a little movement coming back.  The corner of my mouth and the ability to close my eye about 80%.  Unfortunately, even though I was very careful, I started to develop synkinesis about that time.

Now my face is pretty frozen and I don't have much movement.  None in my forehead/brow, I can close my eye, can't wrinkle my nose and could move my mouth but its frozen/stiff.  I am getting NMR and botox to help.

I had full nerve function upon awakening and for a couple days.

The numbness abated in parts of my face and not at all in other parts.

It is so hard to keep hearing...but everyone is totally different. 

I had my surgery in April '06

Amy

[stein78]

My face was 99% perfect when I woke up.  But at about day seven or so post-op I started to get some facial weakness.  I first noticed it with my eye, it didn't blink as well and my eye brow didn't move much.  Then the next day it was my mouth, I spit water all over the place brushing my teeth.    The whole left side of my face just felt bruised during this time, like I got punched or something.  It took just over three weeks and everything started coming back.  At about the fourth week I was about back to normal. 

As mentioned above, how you are when you wake up is a good indicator of the final result.

[amymeri]

Unfortunately, it seems like I have gotten the worst of what could have been a tolerable situation.  For instance, I had NO hearing loss, dizziness before my tumor is discovered....on the other hand because I had no symptoms it was really big when we found it.  My doctors think they got the whole tumor, I had no paralysis upon awakening but a few days later I had total paralysis.  I was told it would be better in 3-4 months and now 10 months later I am still pretty bad off.

I just don't think you can ever know....

[rjp]

thanks for the replies.
I guess it is just hard to know.  Ill keep staying positive at least for 3 more months.   Im at the half way point, of the 6 mo timetable.
I had no movement right from waking up, it sounds like some of you were OK then became worse.
My Dr said he was confident it would come back, within 6 months, but he also said if it didn't then hed be worried.
I would think for him to be as confident as he was, that he must know something about how you look like waking up,
and that corresponds to future healing.   Im just not sure.

On a side note, my gold eye lid wieght got infected about a month after I was home, the gold was actually showing through my eyelid was so thin.
The other DR, took it out, and now I don't have anything.  I was glad becuase it looked terrible when it was in, and  I can keep it closed at night, but during the day I need to use the lube stuff quite a bit.  This keeps it moist, but totally makes seeing out of that eye impossible.  I have pretty much been one eye since the start.  I hope when my face comes back my eye does too.   From a functional standpoint, the eye is a bigger problem than not being able to smile.

Other than those things, Im doing fine. 
My other future concern is I have to do this all over again, in about 6 months to get the last 10% out (3 cm originally).   
even if I recover from the first surgery, Im worried I have to take the same risks all over again. 

rjp

[nancyann]

 Hey there RJP:

 Just wondering,
 
 Have you gotten a facial EMG (electromyography) ?
 I had one 4 months out, then 7 months out,
 & even though I don't have movement yet,
 there is a 10-15% nerve regeneration.
 Anyway, my neurologist said it could take up to
 2 years for movement to start.
 
 I have the gold weight too - having problems cause my upper lid
 has remained red & swollen (checking into allergy, etc.)
 I use Refresh lubricant about 5 times a day.

 Don't know what to say about having to do this again-
 any way the rest can be 'taken out' by CK or GK ?

 Wishing you all the best,      Nancy

[cdd]

I am 9 months into a 18-24month healing period. My an tumor was 4.5 cm. I had cranial surgery to remove it 6/06.  I have had very slight improvement,but I have had some firmness and lifting of my mouth. It's not quite as droopy. The chewing has really improved, so it must be getting better.  I can't recall my condition just following the surgery. My surgeon is confindent that I should get fairly good improvement if I hold out for the full 18 months, before looking into doing a nerve or muscle tranfer. Yes, you're right, the eye is the biggest problem although it is very dissappointing to not be able to comunicate with your face or smile. I have a gold weight, partially sutured outer eye, two tear ducts plugged and my eye seems ok. I did have quite a few complications a while back.  I think I found an answer to that problem myself. I discontinued the use of antihistamines and decongestion meds for my stuffiness that I've had since the surgery and I now wear goggles to bed, which I found better than patching and more convenient too!. It really keeps the moisture in at night much better thanall the patching did. I did have the EMG about a couple of months following the surgery, it did not respond at all. they told me that I need to have a twitch of some kind to start with. They asked that I call them when I get even the slightest bit of movement and try again. They said that it can help aid in the speed of the healing of nerve. I do have pain @ the corner of my nose, brow and cheek bone.  Does that mean that I am healing?! Does anybody know? Thanks Carol

[nancyann]

Carol:  Sounds like your nerve is DEFINITELY on the road to recovery. 
         You still have months to go.  I get routine EMGs - the first one was 4 months out,
          no nerve generation.  The one 7 months out showed 10-15% nerve generation,
         I still have no movement, so my next EMG is 5/29/07.  My being advised to do a
         nerve graft will depend on the results of the next EMG.
          Best wishes on continued healing,  Nancy

[er]

Hi
 I had my surgery 2 years this March 28th 2007, and I still have problems,
by the 3rd month results started showing but very slow. Every one tell me I really look good but I still have a funny feeling on my left side of my head, crooked smile, no tears, hearing loss in the left ear, I loss my balance, short term memmory, and my speech sometimes goes. But I have heard other people have better results.
Eve

[TP]

Hello, I had my surgery in June 2006 and by December I had a slight smile. However, not much improvement since then. My face is sore around my eye lid and jaw at times. Chewing food has improved dramatically but takes me longer to eat and spitting after brushing my teeth - well lets just say I better do a good job of aiming. After talking all day my mouth and jaw has slight pain. Singing is the one thing I don't do as well since my mouth does not operate as well as it use too. Bottom line, you will see some improvement overtime and when that happens - celebrate!

[Pembo]

I woke up with complete facial paralysis on the An side. At my 3 month drs visit he noticed a small twitch right above the lip. That twitch became a movement I could control and the process has been ever so slow since. I'm not almost 3 yrs post op and I'm told that you can't even tell I still have facial paralysis but I see it everyday.

My eye was WIDE open  and it started to relax a bit around 6 months I think. I had to use lacrilube every few hours for my eye it was the only thing that worked. I have since had a punctual plug and use Restasis eye drops. Both of these have helped tremendously and I no longer use "the lube."

Last fall I saw Todd at UPMC for facial therapy and with feedback and a mirror I have definitely seen improvement. He said that it can take years for facial recovery! It is a very slow progress. He has a sign in his office that says this is a Marathon not a sprint.

I hated hearing "it just takes time" when I was newly post op but I can tell you that it is true. Things keep improving and you have to look back to see how far you've come. Stay strong, there are a lot of us with crooked faces out there. The one thing I have noticed is how many people in the world have unbalanced faces. I've become very good at checking out strangers and noticing their imperfections.

Stay Strong!!!!

Barb