Question
hey 2dogs...having a `is this ever going to end` day. Tight tight tight. although I can feel it ohhhhhso slowly lessening, when I think back to how far across my face it was to begin with. Do you think this will be with us for ever? Are you still tight? Do you think numbness and tightness go hand in hand with each other? I am thinking of see a nerve specialist, but maybe I should see someone who deals with muscles?? Its the muscle at the side of my face that seems to spasm.
What are your thought..??
I`m still getting shooting pins and needles and burning....what the heck is that all about.
Jules xx
Answer
Jules;
I'm afraid I won't be much help to you but I am right there with you. At 4 months, I'm getting sensation back but it's pin prickly painful - - - and I feel the tight, stiff feeling even MORE now that the numbness is coming out. Especially bad when outside as I live in a cold climate. What frightens me is that when I brush my upper teeth on the "numb" side, I feel weird sensations in my cheek toward the temple. When I scratch my cheek, I feel my upper lids! I realize the nerves are growing back but they seem to be connecting to the wrong places! It's as if they need to be re-trained to go where they're suppose to. Has anyone else had this? Do I just wait or is there anything that can be done to help? I no longer have twitching muscles & everything seems to 'work' in my face but whoa . . . at times I feel overwhelmingly desperate for relief.
Bayport
Answer
Pins and needles, prickles and burning, touch your lip and your eye tingles. Yep, all pretty normal. It is the nerves regenerating. This is a good thing, doesn't feel real swell, but it is a good think none the less. I am not an expert and we all heal differently, but I know that at a year I could still feel weird tingling around my eyes, a sensitivity if you will. Right now you are really focused on every little thing, so it is all amplified. Remember too that your body doesn't know you chose to do this, you may as well have been hit head-on by a mac truck. It is going to take a while and truly it takes a good year for all the stuff underneath to get close to normal. This was major surgery, and your body needs and will recover. It is a sort of morphing experience, hang on, you'll forget all about it a year from now and just be enjoying your lovely fresh face.
Aloha
Answer
Still numb at 6 months and when I touch my nose my /mmh/product/eyelidsurgery/index.vm?procid=6" target=_blank>eye tingles. Also, my neck is sore to touch and my behind my ears is quite sore. I find this hard to believe after all this time. Has anyone else experienced this soreness after 6 months?
lorac
Answer
Yes, and yes. And oh, yes now that you mention it, yes! Elaine is correct. EVERYTHING under there was moved. Some of us more than others. At 9 months, I have finally lost my inappropriate muscle movement for the most part, but I'm still bone-deep numb across cheekbones and temples (not the skin surface, the muscle l/mmh/product/beauty/ayer/index.vm?procid=13&catid=642" target=_blank>ayer) and tight around my ears. Yes, worse when it's cold out, I'm fatigued or have a cold. Or eat salt and swell more. I'm confident it will be gone in time, but some of us take longer than others. Julc, have you tried a little light heat and gentle massage when it gets tight, and some ibuprofen? Mine seems to last 2-3 days at a time, then relaxes nicely for a while, so I'm sure it's still on the mend. Yes, be grateful for shooting pains and pins and needles!
2 dogs
Answer
Thanks for that elaine and 2dogs. Elaine I am at the one year mark already. I sometimes think I am going backwards...its like a constant tightness and sometimes an achy feeling.
I keep haninging onto the hope that I am really a slow healer. When I have been asleep and wake up my face feels normal. As soon as I get up, bam...the tightness appears. Like I said it waxes and wanes. I truely cannot fault the look, its has taken me back to my younger days, but this tradeoff is ridiculous............
Jules x
Answer
Hi Jules,
I sense desperation in your tone....I totally empathise with you and all I can say as I am 6 months ahead of you that it does get better.
I am so much better than at 12 months ..in the last few days the whole face is relaxed but I still have the tingles and pull down the back of my scalp on the sides.
As it moves further and further back ...off my face if you will ...it is easier to live with.
I would get so desperate at the thought that I would have to live like this forever ( having read here that some are like it at 3 years!!) but I know that it is going to finally return to normal.
If there is progress it will go back to normal.
The cycles of few bad days followed by feeling better is an interesting phenomenon that a lot of us have observed....the nerves regenerating are both for sensation and for the muscles , that is why the tingling and pulling occur together.
Please don't get too down ..it will be OK...probably a waste of time to see a nerve doctor or anyone else for that matter..time will do it!
Ladydoc
Answer
Ladydoc...yep thats the sound of a desperate woman, I can`t believe I still have this one year on. When I have a drink or get miffed about something the muscles tighten up, then somedays the tightness is bearable. When I wake up, its normal, the wacko....here we go again. If i look at it logically, my face is not as tight as it was all over, I understand they pull the skin right back to near the /mmh/product/rhinoplasty/index.vm?procid=10" target=_blank>/mmh/product/rhinoplasty/index.vm?procid=10" target=_blank>/mmh/product/rhinoplasty/index.vm?procid=10" target=_blank>/mmh/product/rhinoplasty/index.vm?procid=10" target=_blank>/mmh/product/rhinoplasty/index.vm?procid=10" target=_blank>/mmh/product/rhinoplasty/index.vm?procid=10" target=_blank>/mmh/product/rhinoplasty/index.vm?procid=10" target=_blank>/mmh/product/rhinoplasty/index.vm?procid=10" target=_blank>nose. Well all that skin is now normal...but my left side where I had a nicked parotid gland and had to `self drain` sometimes feels like concrete....like solid, then it relaxes.
I know you ladies are so good here. I guess I have been thinking about this time last year when I was at a real low after surgery, and the only thing that kept me going was the thought it would be done and dusted by feb 06..........WRONG
Your words are inspiring, and comforting. Ladydoc, did you still have substantial tightness at one year? I know you have come along way....
Jules xx
Answer
Hi Jules, The whole process of looking better but not feeling like your face is yours yet can ge really frustrating. The area of my face between the cheek bones and the jawline was like a rock. It was that way for nearly two years, and only recently has the left side returned to feeling close to normal. The right side still feels a bit hard but not as large of an area or as hard as it was. For a while I thought perhaps the ps put in some sort of an implant, it felt that foreign. For me it felt especially hard if I clenched my teeth/jaw. And it was noticeable too when I did that. But it does go away. My harder side improves weekly now.
It's irritating I know. Perhaps warm compresses could help that feeling or cold ones. Someone here may jump in with some info on that. I had so many other issues, this one was frustrating but not life altering. Hang in there, it honestly gets better, it just takes one heck of a lot of time.
Aloha
Answer
Hi Elaine, Ladydoc, 2dogs etc...
Well, I went on to a site called ask Dr Garcia, he answers you ps questions on line.....(how the hell does he have time if he is a surgeon...maybe he doesnt sleep) Anyway I asked about the tightness and he reckons anything that you have at 18 months is what you are left with!!! If I`m still tight around the cheeks at 18 months thats my lot....that kind of gives me a different answer to what my ladies are saying here...what do you think girls. Lady and Elaine, you are seeing changes albeit slow at 18 months plus. Do you think he is not sure, and covering his bases? I really don`t know what to think about this guy. Is it really him who is answering the posts. Have you heard of this guy in the US??
I`m kind of inclined to go with the girls who have ACTUALLY had this proceedure, rather then a guy who does it, but hasn`t experienced it himself........
Jules xxx
Answer
Hi Jules,
You have just heard Elaine say that she is still improving at 2 years.
I am noticing daily changes still at 19 months ... I know it is still improving so I think you should be guided by us!
Just think back to even a couple of months ago ...are you better today than then? If the answer is yes then take heart.
I have hit rock bottom many times but then I ask myself " am I better than last month ? " and the answer is always yes so I am always reminding myself that if it is always improving then there is no reason why it won't finish the process!!
Cheer up! It is going to be OK!
Ladydoc
Answer
That may be the "rule" for nerve damage, which is not really what we're talking about. What are the odds this guy has had his face done??? Slim (okay, some of those guys on Extreme Makeover obviously did!) . For the most part, I'd say if you have never had this tightness/pulling/numb feeling in your face, who are you to even answer the question!!!! Ladydoc is correct Julc....when you can no longer look back 3 months and say you've changed or improved, then I'd say maybe you've hit the wall. I'm still improving. She is too! And you don't realize it, but you ARE better.
keep healing!
2 dogs
Answer
Hi, Jules. I don't know who that ps is and can't make any evaluation on him or his site. What I can tell you is.. They told me I could go back to work in 2 weeks, not true. They told me that the "paralysis" on the left side of my face happens only about 1% of the time..... Now it is said that my hardness at 18 months one will be stuck with.....well I wasn't.
My left side now feels normal and the right is getting there at 30 months post op!!
Truly if they knew all the answers and could accuratly predict things, this board wouldn't exisit. I can't promise that your hardness will continue to improve, I can only tell you that mine did and at 30 months post op I am confident that the right side will continue to soften, just like the left side did. My body had so many issues of healing, followed by an eye revision at 1 year, I think it is still trying to mend and figure out what the heck I am doing!! Just my two cents. Aloha
Answer
Ladies...what can I say....without you lot out there, I, here in the UK, would be back to where I was a year ago..I wasn`t a good place to be. Well, today I am feeling a bit better, but now have what I call, a dull ache in my chops..........a bit like when a muscle has been over worked. Almost like the dead muscle is now coming back to life and has thought, `about bloody time....what have you been doing to me the last year`. like Elaine said...your body has never had this trauma before and I guess it rebels by shuting down........(Ladydoc, I`m sure this isn`t a good analogy, forgive me....only a poorly paid teacher!!) Yes, places that were tight before, have loosened up, and I think places that are numb still, get tight, because my `alive` places don`t get tight. Are you with me still ???
Once again, Ladydoc, and 2dogs....we have travelled this road together...my feet are now tired....Elaine....you are a star.....you have given me advice on eyes and face....(/mmh/product/eyelidsurgery/index.vm?procid=6" target=_blank>/mmh/product/eyelidsurgery/index.vm?procid=6" target=_blank>/mmh/product/eyelidsurgery/index.vm?procid=6" target=_blank>bleph board a while ago)
Us British are not prone to gushing.....BUT I AM GUSHING.....if we ever met face to face, I would throw my arms around you....and maybe shake your hands..........Ladies I salute you.
Jules xxxx
Answer
I'm not a star Jules...anniepie did it for me. I am just paying it forward. Glad to be of comfort, I know exactly how it feels..... Hang on, the power of our own healing properties are truly amazing. Aloha
