Dear Dr Rosenberg,
I had a lower face lift with platysmal plication. The permanent sutures that were left inside seemed to cause my tissue in my throat under my chin to swell out like a bullfrog. I mean huge and my previuosly flat jawline became rounded and jowly. I had a ct scan done and showed a mass of irritated tissue. My PS performed a second surgery 3 months after the first to remove the permanent sutures. It helped considerably but several months later after it seemed resolved there were 2 lumps that seemed like perhaps a suture or fragment of a suture left inside. It was itchy and irritating. One of them worked its way to the surface of the skin near the suture scar and opened up and looked like a staph infection. I was treated w antibiotics but they didn't help it and it didn't resolve. The first lump seemed to heal after several weeks but left thickened tissue near my origial incision line. The second lump kept forming and and extremely irritating. My PS injected it w a steroid shot. He was reticent in removing it as it was about the size of a pea and he was afraid of taking too much tissue in that area and causing what is described as a "turkey neck". The lump kept organizing until it got to a place where my PS could remove it. He had to make a couple mm incision about an inch or so behind the original incision to remove it. It was sent to pathology but no suture or suture fragment was found. No allergy or systemic issues were noted.I was told I have a high histamine reaction and basically I heal funny. The lump was a necrotized lymph node and necrotized fat.the tissue where the lump was removed is still swollen and it has been 8 weeks since it was removed. I had a good jawline prior to having this "maintenance" cosmetic surgery performed. I now have what looks like a double chin and its kind of jowly from the swelling of the tissue.additionally, I also suffered a seroma after the original surgery which was performed on June 23 2008. The second surgery to remove the permanent sutures was performed on August 24th 2008 and the third surgery to remove the lump was done May 14 2009. Will this swelling ever fully resolve? I was a beautiful woman and now I purchased a very expensive scarred double chin and jowls Help?