HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM --Masseter/Buccanator muscle re-attached wrong??

[Lazlo]

So, I know at 9 weeks I'm not necessarily "fully recovered" but I'd have thought certain pain/healing issues would be over.

But I have a problem that has been persisting since my surgery with Dr. Sinn. Specifically, on the right side of my face there is a band of muscle or tissue or a tendon that runs from my lower jaw to upper jaw about as far back as my most rear molars. It's in the general area of the buccal muscle or the masster muscle (i looked those up as the muscles closest to that area) and I can feel this muscle feel really "tight" or part of it feels "hard" and knotty almost as if I have a pulled muscle or cramp there that has shortneed the muscle and when I open and close my mouth it really hurts.

Is it possible something there was misattached or severed or the muscle was permanently damaged or something in some way??

I haven't talked to Dr. Sinn about it yet but I plan on doing so this week. Just wondering if anyone else has had some long-standing muscle stiffness/torn muscle or tightness/pain problems that took a long time to resolve.

Anyone care to speculate what the problem might be? Or how it could be fixed?

[strongjawman]

Haven't had surgery but didn't realise either muscle was cut during double jaw surgery??

[Lazlo]

well i think they may be attached and reattached? Or maybe it's the incision site.

Also I had "buccal fat removal" which was total bulls**t since it made no cosmetic difference and I didn't even have any buccal fat worth removing. But maybe the area was injured then? I dunno cause I don't have that problem on the left side. It's like muscle soreness and there's this really tight hard band of muscle running vertically from lower jaw to upper jaw that just feels like it's perpetually being pulled and thus sore.

It's beginning to alarm me a bit since I don't have it at all on the left side and it HAS been 9 weeks now --I shouldn't have any soreness anywhere whatsoever at this f**king point.

[stupidjaws]

it's normal to have this feeling at 9 weeks post op.

[Rico]

Of course your masseter muscles were partially cut and stretched (the attachment lines). The muscles need at least 2 years to adjust.
Pray to not get TMJD but since you have not got as far it will be OK..especially if you had surgery bilaterally. So there is compensation. Symmetric change
if I remember what kind of surgery you had

The muscle line attachment very likely has attached again properly. However you can check it on MRI, or even on CT you can see kinda echo of soft tissues

If there is really tightness, you can try botox injection into muscles. But do it wisely. Hovewer at this point don't do anything. Too early

I wonder do you see some negative changes when you open your mouth widely ?  I mean, the soft tissues between the zygomatic arch and the border of the jaw

How is your feeling ? the nerves

[Lazlo]

Of course your masseter muscles were partially cut and stretched (the attachment lines). The muscles need at least 2 years to adjust.
Pray to not get TMJD but since you have not got as far it will be OK..especially if you had surgery bilaterally. So there is compensation. Symmetric change
if I remember what kind of surgery you had

The muscle line attachment very likely has attached again properly. However you can check it on MRI, or even on CT you can see kinda echo of soft tissues

If there is really tightness, you can try botox injection into muscles. But do it wisely. Hovewer at this point don't do anything. Too early

I wonder do you see some negative changes when you open your mouth widely ?  I mean, the soft tissues between the zygomatic arch and the border of the jaw

How is your feeling ? the nerves

aesthetically everything is good. overall feeling is good, but right lower lip feels numb --i think that's a frequent numb spot for a lot of people.

right now it's like I would say 70-80 percent numb. Strange cause after the operation I had feeling there. But you know guys, as far as numbness that I DO know takes upto a year or a bit more to return fully having experienced that from a previous operation.

Also, I'm taking 3000 iu's of B12 spray in my mouth every day and 8000 iu's of Vitamin D --I don't know if it does s**t but I heard they're good for nerve regeneration.

[LyraM45]

This is pretty normal. I experienced this after both surgeries.  Bilaterally after the first, and only on my right after the second.  It takes months for the muscles there to settle down.  Takes months for them to come back around to their full strength too.  You can also have a hematoma up around there too.  Things will feel tight/awkward and even knotty for a while.  I want to say by 3-4 months post op it started to settle out better for me.

[LyraM45]

aesthetically everything is good. overall feeling is good, but right lower lip feels numb --i think that's a frequent numb spot for a lot of people.

right now it's like I would say 70-80 percent numb. Strange cause after the operation I had feeling there. But you know guys, as far as numbness that I DO know takes upto a year or a bit more to return fully having experienced that from a previous operation.

Also, I'm taking 3000 iu's of B12 spray in my mouth every day and 8000 iu's of Vitamin D --I don't know if it does s**t but I heard they're good for nerve regeneration.

FWIW, I got left with a numb (well, not dead numb, but half numb/tingly) on my right lower lip/chin/gums after my first surgery.  Second I was almost guaranteed to lose more feeling, but somehow I didn't.  I am not sure if this did s**t like you say, but I was taking everything you said and I added Acetyl L Carotene.  Supposedly that is good for nerve healing too. I was all good by 2 months post op after revision. 

[Rico]

my experience says , you should wait at least 6 months after surgery to judge

The 2 years for muscles I wrote in the meaning if the position is changed so much, that they need quite big rebulid process. You know reorganisation of muscles fiber. One surgeon told me that

Moving only forward is not challenging issue for the muscles. 6 months (up to 1 year) will be enough

ah keep in mind that tightness in these areas you can confuse a bit with tightness like feeling because of hypoasthesia.
Hypoasthesia is very strange experience and partially you can take it as a mild tightness

the fact  that you woke up with 50% of feeling means you were extremely lucky, or the surgeon is a real master (really careful) as most patients do not wake up with 50% of feeling after such surgery. You might get 100% feeling until 6th-8th month postop in this situation. Generally IMO it's very likely that your nerves  will recover fully within 1 year.

Likely, good for nerve regeneration is low dose laser therapy and sport. I do not know if this is coincidence, but 2 weeks ago I had about 80% of feeling, and after laser therapy I have now 90% of feeling at 10th month after surgery (I had 0%  just after surgery)

[Lazlo]

This is pretty normal. I experienced this after both surgeries.  Bilaterally after the first, and only on my right after the second.  It takes months for the muscles there to settle down.  Takes months for them to come back around to their full strength too.  You can also have a hematoma up around there too.  Things will feel tight/awkward and even knotty for a while.  I want to say by 3-4 months post op it started to settle out better for me.

cool thanks a lot for the reassurance I'm so glad it's not only unique to me and it will eventually go away

[JimmyTheGent]

right now it's like I would say 70-80 percent numb. Strange cause after the operation I had feeling there.

Isn't that really strange to go from having feeling post-op to no feeling later on post-op???    Could swelling cause that?  Damage the nerve some how?

[Lazlo]

So i'm almost at the one month mark and still am having major problem with this tight muscle or tendon whatever on the right side of my face attached clearly to the maxilla down to mandible --it so sore when i try and open my mouth.

Also, maybe only 3 percent improvement of numbness in lower-right dead lip. Is this all normal at 3 months?

Honestly, the aesthetic improvement wasn't huge. Too subtle for anyone to notice. I have a fair bit of extra weight but I don't have a chiselled jawline or anything at all.

[Lestat]

What does sinn say?

[Lazlo]

What does sinn say?

yeah i haven't spoken to him yet about it since I'm so far away, will do so this week. I'm starting to get a bit concerned. but maybe my recovery was so good every other way this too shall pass.

[needadvancement]

So i'm almost at the one month mark and still am having major problem with this tight muscle or tendon whatever on the right side of my face attached clearly to the maxilla down to mandible --it so sore when i try and open my mouth.

Also, maybe only 3 percent improvement of numbness in lower-right dead lip. Is this all normal at 3 months?

Honestly, the aesthetic improvement wasn't huge. Too subtle for anyone to notice. I have a fair bit of extra weight but I don't have a chiselled jawline or anything at all.

How is the chin looking.