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Archive for the 'Unhappy Results' Category

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I recently had a Radiesse injection under my right eyebrow at a Medical Spa. I didn’t have one under the left one. The RN that injected under the brow said that it would lift the brow and even it out with the other one. Now I have one swollen eyebrow and one naturally flat one. I have been massaging it and considering a correction. However, after reading some of your replies to people who are considering correcting Radiesse, I am hesitant to do so. I don’t know why I allowed her to do this to me, but it seemed logical at the time. I have never gone to a Medical Spa and should have left when I found out a doctor would not be performing the procedure. I am now considering having a small amount of filler added to the other eye, however using something more temporary than Radiesse. Would you recommend a little filler on the other eye in order to even out my appearance if it’s done by a physician? Sincerely, Debra, Eagle Pass, Texas

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Dear Debra,
I am sorry to hear of your problem following a filler injection in a Medical Spa. I have received many similar emails from other people with similar problems following soft tissue filler injections in Medical Spa’s by unlicensed or inexperienced licensed people. Check my archives under “unhappy results” to read of some serious complications.
I […]

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Dear Dr. Seckel, I had a face lift 4 months ago. Now my upper right lip doesn’t move properly. When I try to pucker my lips the right upper lip doesn’t pucker. When I press my upper lip to my lower lip and put pressure on it the middle of my upper lip moves to the left quite a bit which does not look very good. It is difficult for me to eat. My upper right lip will move upwards and my smile is fine. My surgeon told me that he may have damaged my orbicularis oris muscle during the surgery. He explained to me that he separated my skin from the corner of my mouth up to my ear to allow him to try to minimize a wrinkle that was at the corner of my mouth. I saw some improvement in my upper lip during the first couple of months but have not seen any improvement for over a month. The right side of my face is still numb in several places. Will my upper lip improve with more time? Can this condition be permanent? Thank you in advance for your reply. Sherri, Dana Point, CA

Sunday, January 27th, 2008

Dear Sheri,
Most likely the buccal branch of the facial nerve was injured during your face lift.
Fortunately buccal branch injuries recover because of generous additional nerve branches in the cheek area, however recovery can take many months. This creates a problem because the inactive muscle around the lip undergoes atrophy and when the new nerve branches […]

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Dear Dr. Seckel, I had a face lift 4 months ago. Now my upper right lip doesn’t move properly. When I try to pucker my lips the right upper lip doesn’t pucker. When I press my upper lip to my lower lip and put pressure on it the middle of my upper lip moves to the left quite a bit which does not look very good. It is difficult for me to eat. My upper right lip will move upwards and my smile is fine. My surgeon told me that he may have damaged my orbicularis oris muscle during the surgery. He explained to me that he separated my skin from the corner of my mouth up to my ear to allow him to try to minimize a wrinkle that was at the corner of my mouth. I saw some improvement in my upper lip during the first couple of months but have not seen any improvement for over a month. The right side of my face is still numb in several places. Will my upper lip improve with more time? Can this condition be permanent? Thank you in advance for your reply. Sherri, Dana Point, CA

Sunday, January 27th, 2008

Dear Sheri,

Most likely the buccal branch of the facial nerve was injured during the surgery.

Buccal branch nerve injuries usually recover because there are many other branches of the nerve in this region that can take over the function.

The problem is that it is important to maintain the viability and function of the muscle while it […]

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Dear Dr. Seckel, I had a face lift 4 months ago. Now my upper right lip doesn’t move properly. When I try to pucker my lips the right upper lip doesn’t pucker. When I press my upper lip to my lower lip and put pressure on it the middle of my upper lip moves to the left quite a bit which does not look very good. It is difficult for me to eat. My upper right lip will move upwards and my smile is fine. My surgeon told me that he may have damaged my orbicularis oris muscle during the surgery. He explained to me that he separated my skin from the corner of my mouth up to my ear to allow him to try to minimize a wrinkle that was at the corner of my mouth. I saw some improvement in my upper lip during the first couple of months but have not seen any improvement for over a month. The right side of my face is still numb in several places. Will my upper lip improve with more time? Can this condition be permanent? Thank you in advance for your reply. Sherri, Dana Point, CA

Sunday, January 27th, 2008

Dear Sheri,

Most likely the buccal branch of the facial nerve was injured during the surgery.

Buccal branch nerve injuries usually recover because there are many other branches of the nerve in this
region that can take over the function.

The problem is that it is important to maintain the viability and function of the muscle while it is […]

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Dear Dr. Seckel, I recently (3 months ago) had tear trough implants placed to correct dark circles under my eyes. I now have a lump which looks like the end of the implant protruding from my right cheek and I can see the outline and it looks as though the right implant is crooked. On both sides the dark circle under my eyes near my nose, which is what I wanted to correct is still visible. Can this be corrected? Thank you, Beth, London, UK

Monday, January 14th, 2008

Dear Beth,

I am sorry to hear of your problem. I do not use tear trough implants to correct dark circles under eyes any longer because of these types of difficulties and the risk of complications.

I find that the tear trough implants are often displaced by the contraction of the overlying orbicularis occuli muscles. […]

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Dear Dr. Seckel I currently live in Italy, close to Milan. 1 year ago I went to a plastic surgeon here in Italy, because I had bad dark circles under my eyes and wished to do something about them. He told me that a blepharoplasty would not better the situation, and that I should do a lipo-filling under my eyes to cover up the dark circles. He injected fat grafted from another part of my body under my eyes, and the result was horrendous: the fat was uneven under the skin, and stuck out, making me look older and actually giving me bags under my eyes that I had never had! This fat in still visible under the skin, and has given no sign of re-absorbing. Six months after this disastrous lipo-filling operation, I went to another surgeon here in Italy who suggested a blepharoplasty on both upper and lower eyelids to try and mask the lipo-filling. In the blepharoplasty, the Surgeon took away fat from under the eye to try and create a “dent” so that the fat from the lipo-filling would no longer be visible, and I believe that he also took fat away from the upper lids too. The scars from this operation, six months on, are clearly visible: on the upper lids, the outer area of the eyes is marked with red scars. On the lower eyelids, the incision was very low down, and was not cut along the lash line. Where these scars are present, the skin bulges out - I’m not sure whether this is because of the scarring or the fat that is still under the skin. Under the right eye there is a lob of fat under the skin that sticks out toward the cheekbone and is very aesthetically unpleasant. In addition to this, I would like to inform you that after the blepharoplasty operation, I was ready to go home when all of a sudden I started bleeding from under my left eye, and so was rushed back into the operating theatre just in time so solve this problem, and so the left eye was operated on twice in one day! I have been through so much trauma and the thought of having further surgery scares me a lot, but I know that I need and want to solve this problem. Thank you, L., Milan, Italy

Monday, December 10th, 2007

Dear L,

I am so sorry to hear of your experience. I have, for several years cautioned against the injection of fat, lipo-injection or fillers around the eyes to correct dark circles under the eyes.

Your experience of lumps around the eyes, unfortunately is a common one following lipo-filling injection and filler injection procedures around the […]

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Dear Dr. Seckel, I have had 2 blepharoplasty surgeries (all four eyelids) and still Look tired as my lower lids hang way down and I feel for lack of better word my eyes look like a basset hound. I had the scalpel blepharoplasty with the visible scar on my lower eyelids, I did not have the transconjunctival blepharoplasty you write about and I did not have the arcus marginalis release. I also did not have the laser. First surgery was with plastic surgeon, second was with occuloplastic surgeon, went back to a third plastic surgeon and he mentioned I should have had a canthoplasty instead. Does suturing the ligament to the bone cause eventual sagging because of weight of the cheek and gravity over time? Thank you for your time, Renée, Minneapolis,

Sunday, March 11th, 2007

Dear Renee,

The look you describe, also called the sad eyed look, hound dog eyes, ectropion, or scleral show, is the most common problem after traditional scalpel blepharoplasty of the lower eyelid. Modern Blepharoplasty usually avoids these problems. During the traditional lower eyelid blepharoplasty when the incision is made on the outside of the lower eyelid […]

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Dear Dr. Seckel, I live in Brussels (Belgium) where I had a blepharoplasty (both eyelids) end march 2006, and I am not happy with the result. The ‘bags’ of the lower eyelids disappeared, and the scars are not too visible, but my eyes look very hollow with dark circles under the eyes, under both eyes (more in the right eye) I have now real visible hollow eyes with dark circles under the eyes. That makes the eye look rounder; mostly in the extern corners of the eye, like sad eyes, like dropping. I think you call it the sad eyed look or hound dog eyes. In the upper eyelid, the line of the eyelid is very high now (more in the right eye than in the left), it looks artificial, and now also my brows look lower than before. A lot of people say to me: “you look tired”, or “you lost a lot of weight, didn’t you?” It gives a tired, not-healthy look. I thought I would get used to it, or the result would be better after a few months, but no. I begin to search information on internet, see what can be done, it seems it is not easy to remedy, I don’t find real specialists of that problem in my country, and now I want to be very careful, I don’t want to risk a worse result. A plastic surgeon I went to here spoke about another operation, but he would open the skin again, I hesitate… I read your site and thought you could give me a good advice about what to do, or perhaps an idea of where or who here in Europe I could see. Thank you very much for information and apologize my approximate English! Thank you, Georgette, Brussels, Belgium

Monday, February 5th, 2007

The problems you mention, hollow eyes, dark circles under the eyes, and the sad eyed look are problems that do occur after the old style incisional blepharoplasty.

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