Okay, I promised you pictures ... and here they are. Here is the picture of me the first morning in Jackie's office trying to "gently" close my eyes. Notice the eyebrow (right one is raised), the right side of my lip which is pulled up, and the muscles in the right side of my neck.
Now here is the after picture. Notice how much more symmetrical my face looks - eyebrows even, lip more relaxed, no bulgy muscles in the neck!
Now, here is my "smile" picture from the first morning. You can see that my chin is dimpled and my right eye is tight. You can also see the muscle on the side of my neck kind of sticking up. That whole side of my face is pulling and tight.
And now after! In fairness, I am not smiling as "big" here - I have to keep the movements small and stop just before anything starts twitching or cramping or dimpling.
and that;'s just after 3 days???? wow. gosh. excellent!
ReplyDeleteI know! I keep looking to see if it's for real. My face still gets very tight, but at least I am aware of what is happening and can take steps to loosen the knotted muscles. And, best of all, I know that I won't have this tightness forever - yay!!
ReplyDeletehello! i was diagnosed with Bell's palsy 1 year and 3 months ago... i have movement on my eyelid, but my smile is very crooked, i can hardly see teeth! i get really upset at times & just cry!.But then i get my act together, anyways i just started 2 months ago retraining therapy, i also have a lot of synkinises in my platisma! wich i think and was told that is the problem of my crooked smile :/ im having some botox done in a few weeks to stop the platisma from pulling down my lips.....anyways let me know your thoughts on this.....thank you!!
ReplyDeleteHi Denise,
DeleteGood that you are working with a facial therapist - that is key. Yes, it could definitely be the platysma that is causing the pulling down of your lip. I just had botox in my neck and it has helped this a little - not as much as I'd hoped, but not all of my mouth issues were being caused by the platysma. Do you have any other synkinesis - for example does your eye start to close if you smile? That is pretty common with long-term facial nerve damage. Some can be corrected with therapy, or at least managed.
As for smile, mine is still crooked especially if I make a big smile, but it is better than it was a few years ago, so that is good. Try not to get discouraged - it is a slow process, but worth all the work.
Let me now if I can help you in any way, okay?
Debbi
Hi! I was just curious how things were goin and if you are still going to therapy?
ReplyDeleteThanks
Jana
Hi Jana,
DeleteI am still seeing Jackie for a "tune up" about once a year and sometimes in between via skype. I am continuing to see small changes which is very encouraging. At rest, no one would know that there are any issues with my facial nerve. When I smile, the right side of my mouth still doesn't work properly but I am trying some new things with Jackie to work on that.
I hope you are well?
Debbi