I am curious to know what you found out about the stitches. For some reason, I am having worse head, jaw, ear and throat pain on week 5, heading into week 6. A part of me is worried about my progress but I am convinced that I will improve.
PT started last week and I am returning to soft food since the first bite, and more tough food cause bootie me nerve pain to shoot throughout my jaw.
Smiling for I have a great community like this and a really supportive family.
Thank you!!
@JPB - The PT even if gentle could be stirring up the pain you have now. Iād think by 5 weeks post op, PT by an experienced therapist could be very helpful but maybe your neck/face arenāt ready for it yet? If you think it is helpful, try icing soon after you see your therapist & the next day as well as that will help reduce any inflammation the PT causes which will help reduce pain.
Try not to worry & keep positive, it is still early, as @Isaiah_40_31 says take it steady with the PTā¦ 
Hi there
I have been having some flare up in my left side below my ear (which is what was an issue pre op) I think itās from healing, thatās what I tell myself. Itās the vein/nerve right there though that causes the issues. Idk.
Anyways Iām sorry about your challenges. I agree with what @Isaiah_40_31 and @Jules stated that maybe your neck is not quite ready for it yet?
As far as the stitches, I took photos as the nurse asked me too. She told me I could try to trim the stitch down thatās poking out (I had already said itās way too small to cut I canāt get to it with anything itās just enough there to jab and be annoying and irritate things) anyways she said they recommend neosporin or any type of antibiotic type crĆØam and apply it to the affected area. So Iāve been doing that for the last few days itās helping a bit. The nurse told me that these types of stitches can take up to 90 days to dissolve! I was like holy cow!! I had no idea that long!
@Ddmarie I pulled the stitches out approx two and half week later 
Gently took by the tip and checked - and it slid out without any resistance. It felt the knots were already dissolved so the stitches didnāt hold there anything. And then the skin flaps finally closed up.
The Monocryl (used for skin incisions in the neck) may take actually even longer than 90 days to dissolve, I think up to 120 days according to Wikipedia. Vicryl (used to close the platysma muscle and the incision near the ear) dissolves faster.
Great feedback - thank you!
I will ice it more now - that really helped in the beginning.
Thank you, Jules!!!
Thank you for sharing your update Ddmarie. I hope your pain has subsided and I am glad you have some feedback on the stitches and discomfort there. Agreed - that is a long time to have stitches healing!!
@Ddmarie - I had pre-op symptoms come & go for quite a few months after my surgeries. I think by the 6 month mark most were gone or nearly so. There were some that hung on till 9 mos & a few didnāt fully go away till about 12 mos post op (but by then they were only annoying not a hindrance). The healing process can feel discouraging when symptoms flare up again, but it does take quite awhile for the nerves to heal even after the post op swelling goes away (though that usually takes some symptoms w/ it).
I will continue to pray that your bouts of pain get further & further apart, disappearing completely very soon. This is for you, too, @JPB.
Thank you! It is posts like this and experiences similarly that give me hope!!