partial myectemy
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Posted by: barbara ®

07/24/2003, 14:01:06
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Six months ago I had an extensive myectemy with pulled muslces from my forehead, eyelids, and along the sides of the eyes. During thee healiing process my skin was tight and my were looking wide eyed and great. Six months have passed and now I am getting furrows in my forehead which need injections and the spasms have increased in my lower face , around the nose and check area. Has anyone elsoe who has had this surgery need touch up in the forehead, and noticed increased activity below the eyes. Thanks Barb




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Re: partial myectemy
Re: partial myectemy -- barbara Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: Moderator-JB ®

07/28/2003, 13:54:15
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Barb,

Many people who have had surgery mention problems with the lower face at some point. Though the blinking can often be modified, it is not the muscles themselves that are at fault, but the Basal Ganglia area of the brain sending out incorrect signals.

Take care,

Judy







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Re: partial myectemy
Re: partial myectemy -- barbara Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: Shirley-Arkansas-USA ®

07/28/2003, 22:08:34
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Hi Barbara and welcome to the bulletin board. I've had Blepharospasm for a little over 4 years.
I have had an upper limited myectomy that Dr. Anderson did April of 2001. I had some swelling for 6 months to a year after the surgery. And a lot of itching in my forehead which I thought would drive me totally bonkers. I also had a lot of tearing....tears would stream down my face. But I can keep my eyes open better. Most of the side-effects from the surgery have gone although I still have a slight numb feeling in my forehead and occasional itching in the same area.
I had spasms around my nose and cheeks and mouth area before the surgery and after the surgery. It was more noticable after the surgery as my upper lids were no longer squeezing. The lower lids would pull up and spasm so that they would close my eyes.
I did continue to get Botox in my forehead after the surgery as it would still tighten and cause headaches. I also get injections for the lower lids in a couple of places and a small dose on either side of my nose and a couple across the bridge of my nose.
You may need injections in your forehead. The upper limited myectomy should stop the squeezing in your upper lids. There are muscles all over your face and the myectomy can only remove the those around the upper lids and lower lids if you have a lower myectomy done also.
Before I had the upper myectomy, when I got Botox injections, it would stop the real tight squeezing and spasms around my eyes but I would then get spasms in my lower face and nose area. When the botox would start to wear off, the lower facial spasm would go away or lessen and the eye spasms would get worse again.
You should talk to your doctor about getting some injections in your forehead and possibly a very small dose on either side of your nose. These nose injections can be tricky as if too much is given or if they are given too low, they can wipe out your upper lip making it droopy. I've had it happen several times and it is not pleasant. I've found that 2.5 units on either side with the needle pointed upward works well for me to get rid of the nose scrunching. 5 units is too much and I have difficulty smiling or getting my upper lip out of the way to eat.
Hope that this helps a little.
All that one can really expect from an upper limited myectomy is improvement and that varies from person to person. It is not a cure and most people still need botox injections after the surgery. I still get my injections every 8 weeks but I don't need as much now and my eyes do open easier. I can't drive and many things are still very difficult but I am more functional since the surgery.
Hang in there and talk with your doctor about placement of injections to help with the problem areas.

Shirley in Arkansas who will soon be living in New Mexico. Darn, I'll have to change my user name.







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Re: partial myectemy
Re: Re: partial myectemy -- Shirley-Arkansas-USA Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: barbara ®

07/29/2003, 07:49:43
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Thanks so much Shirley. For six months after the surgery all the skin seemed so tight including the forehead that I looked 20 years old. At six months the skin began to loosen and my forehead started to get that washboard effecct and it was pulling my eyes together. Then the spasms around my face worsened and I had so many spasms pulling up my face. I was so dissapointed and depressed because you know how hardd tht surgery is. I still have numbness in my foreehead but thank God no itching. Your information has helped me so much.






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Re: Shirley - It Has a Certain Ring to It:-)
Re: Re: partial myectemy -- Shirley-Arkansas-USA Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: June in Toronto ®

07/29/2003, 11:08:15
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Shirley in New Mexico - sounds fine. When will all this happen? Best wishes

June in Toronto







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Re: Shirley - It Has a Certain Ring to It:-)
Re: Re: Shirley - It Has a Certain Ring to It:-) -- June in Toronto Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: Shirley-Arkansas-USA ®

07/29/2003, 12:36:09
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Hi June,
The closing date for the new house will be at the end of August. Hopefully we will be there within a couple of months. My stress-free (ha-ha) life just came to a screeching halt.
My eyes did really well on the trip out there to look around but since I've gotten back home and have all these things to do, they're not doing quite so well.
Thanks for the good wishes....I'm going to need them to get through a major move.

Shirley in Arkansas for awhile yet







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Re: Shirley - It Has a Certain Ring to It:-)
Re: Re: Shirley - It Has a Certain Ring to It:-) -- Shirley-Arkansas-USA Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: barbara ®

07/29/2003, 15:41:20
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Shirley even after your myectemy you still have bad eye days? I wondered if I was unusual with that?






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bad eyes days after myectomy
Re: Re: Shirley - It Has a Certain Ring to It:-) -- barbara Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: Shirley-Arkansas-USA ®

07/29/2003, 17:34:47
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Oh goodness, yes...I have some really bad eye days from time to time.
It would not be safe for me to drive. I still could not work.
I think that it is a common misconception that if you have the surgery, your symptoms go away. Most people still have to get botox injections. My lower lids squeezed up so tightly following my surgery that I thought that they would turn themselves inside out. It was a while before I could get my botox injections because of the swelling so I was miserable for a time.
Yes I do still have bad eye days....days that I might as well have not gotten up but overall things are improved since my myectomy and I am more functional. The surgery was two years ago and the pulling from the temple area and brow area has caused my eyebrows to slope downward. Never underestimate the power of muscles and their ability to come back to life where they shouldn't have.
The surgery is not perfect but it can be "helpful".

I really feel like someone did not explain things well enough to you if you were under the impression that you might not have any bad eye days after the surgery.
I'm glad that you found the bulletin board. ;-)

Shirley in Arkansas







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Re: bad eyes days after myectomy
Re: bad eyes days after myectomy -- Shirley-Arkansas-USA Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: barbara ®

07/29/2003, 20:24:35
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I had no one to talk to before the surgery. My eyebrows were perfect and my eyes werewide open and my eyebrows were perfect but recently my brows have been doing the same thing-pulling downward from my forehead. My surgeon did not inform me of any any of this. It was said to me that I should only need botox underneath my eyelids and around the nose. Thank you so much for talking to me because I was becoming so upset that the surgery was not working and would need to be redone. It cost so much out-of pocket expense too. I wish that I could talk to someone else who had this surgery so compare. Want to go to the conference but thee airfares are too expensive.






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Re:We need some post-op talk here...please
Re: Re: bad eyes days after myectomy -- barbara Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: Shirley-Arkansas-USA ®

07/29/2003, 20:56:15
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Barbara, I was also told that I would "probably" only need botox for the lower lids and bridge of nose. Everyone is different though and the muscles in the face that are affected vary from one person to another. The squeezing from my upper lids has been greatly reduced to eliminated so in that respect the surgery was a success.
Your doctor will just need to have you squeeze your eyes tightly closed so he or she can tell where the muscles may be working overtime and then give the injections where appropriate.
There are others out there lurking that have had the surgery done.
Don't be shy people....share your experiences with Barbara....good or bad. Don't make me name names!! :-)

The conferences are great if you can attend them but if not, they are taped. The audio cassette tapes can be purchased from the BEBRF for $35. It's the entire (almost) conference in a neat little binder of cassette tapes. I get them even when I attend as I miss so much of what is being said while I'm fighting with my eyes to keep them open.
Audio tapes from past years are available on loan from the BEBRF. Just call or email them and they will be sent to you. The first set that I listened to, I cried most of the way through them. It was wonderful listening to the doctors and patients talk about the things that I was experiencing. There were others out there. That is somehow very comforting.

I thought that I would be attending the conference this year but we will be in the process of moving so I will be missing this one. I will for sure get those tapes.

Shirley in Arkansas







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Re: Re:We need some post-op talk here..attention Shirley
Re: Re:We need some post-op talk here...please -- Shirley-Arkansas-USA Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: barbara ®

07/30/2003, 09:31:17
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With your brows collapsing and Mine also with additional brow movement doiesn't that mean that not enough muscle was removed? Sorry to bother you again






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Re: Re:We need some post-op talk here..attention Shirley
Re: Re: Re:We need some post-op talk here..attention Shirley -- barbara Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: Ann Doyle ®

07/30/2003, 11:44:15
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Post Op. I didn't kknow you had to wait for the swelling to go down before Botox. How long does swelling usually last from how many weeks to how many months.
Shirley many months ago you wrote 10 after effects ofthe surgery. I typed it out and kept it until last week when I gave it to my Botox Dr. along with some other stuff like Dr. Andersons operation of which I did have a copy. Is your list of 10 handy?
Ann Doyle






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Re: Re:We need some post-op talk here..attention Shirley
Re: Re: Re:We need some post-op talk here..attention Shirley -- Ann Doyle Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: Shirley-Arkansas-USA ®

07/30/2003, 16:50:10
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Hi Ann,
I'm not really sure what side effects I mentioned before. I'm getting old and that was a long time ago. :-)
It is not wise to get injections while you still have swelling as the swelling will cause the botox to spread more and results might not be as consistant as they sometimes are.
Amount and duration of swelling varies. I had swelling for months to a year. The itching lasted about a year also and I still occasionally have the itchy forehead.

Shirley in Arkansas







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Re: Re:We need some post-op talk here..attention Shirley
Re: Re: Re:We need some post-op talk here..attention Shirley -- barbara Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: Shirley-Arkansas-USA ®

07/30/2003, 16:38:44
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I believe that the amount of muscle removed varies from patient to patient and from doctor to doctor. I'm having pulling in this area above the outer edge of my brow that I didn't have for a year or so after the surgery. It was there before the surgery. It has just recently started to return. Muscle is really not supposed to grow back but if it hasn't, something is causing it to start pulling again.
The surgery is certainly not perfect and some people get better results than others. Some are totally unhappy with their upper myectomies and are very disappointed.
I would still do it over again for the improvement that I did get. Time will tell if I will want to go back and have other surgery done. It won't be anytime soon.
Barbara, you aren't bothering me. Keep asking questions. Hopefully someone will always try to answer your questions. Hubby and I are in the process of getting ready to move so I may be a little slow but I still try to check in.

Shirley in Arkansas







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Re: bad eyes days after myectomy
Re: bad eyes days after myectomy -- Shirley-Arkansas-USA Top of Thread Archive
Posted by: Ann Doyle ®

07/31/2003, 12:49:42
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Shirley, I know you said your face was swollen a long time. How long did you have to wair for Botos, do you remember;Ann Doyle






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