Facial Nerve Damage from Orbital Blowout

[julietorres]

Help!  I had surgery for an orbital blowout fracture on September 17.  Since then the left side of my face is reacting with numbness, hypersensitvity and uncontrollable sinus drainage.  I work outside in the bitter cold temperature of Minnesota which makes my face feel like its been hit with a baseball bat.  My eye swells when I am tired or have been in very cold temperatures.  I have followed up with my surgeon who says there is nothing he can do for me, that we need to wait one year before we know if the nerve damage is permanent or not.  I am just not satisfied with his answer or lack of attentiveness to my constant discomfort.  There has got to be something I can do...  Julie

[rich_uk]

I also had the same operation almost 5 years ago now and I know exactly what you're going through with the numbness. However, it does get better... when they made the incision below my eye they cut through some of the nerves. For about a year after the op I could not feel any of my right cheek, upper right lip or the right side of my nose! I was also concerned and went back to see my consultant. What he explained was that the surrounding nerves will actually grow inwards (I think it's called migration). I can now feel most of my face again... it's not the same kind of feeling as the other side of my face but I don't have any of that numbness any more. When I go out in the cold, I have 5 red dots appear below my eye and when I get tired the eyelids drop more than my other eye... but still, it's far better than having a sunken eyeball and double vision!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

see a neuro-ophthalmologist or oculoplastic surgeron at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Division of Ophthalmology. they are outstanding.

JCH III MD