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Archive for January, 2008

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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 […]

Posted in Face Lift, Unhappy Results | Comments Off

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 […]

Posted in Face Lift, Unhappy Results | Comments Off

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 […]

Posted in Face Lift, Unhappy Results | Comments Off

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. […]

Posted in Unhappy Results | Comments Off