My story is I have been experiencing pain in my left ear, jaw, and neck for almost a year now and other random facial symptoms including pain now around the back of my ear radiating down to the back of my head/neck and pain in left tonsil/throat area. Pain in left ear has become quite intense and my pain has been constant. I also have mild pain in my right ear and occasional pain in/around right jaw. Right sided very mild symptoms came on some 6 months after left sided symptoms but the left side is the symptomatic side. I also am extremely tender under my left jaw.
I had a CT scan in September 2017, which reportedly showed my left styloid at 44mm and the right at 42 mm. I was happy to finally have some diagnosis and was working up towards having surgery.
I decided to have another CT scan recently with contrast to check if there is any impingement to help me decide if I should have internal or external surgery.
The most recent CT scan report came back to my surprise stating that my styloids are 26mm on left side and 24mm on the right! No explanation was given for the difference in measuresrmbrs despite going to the same place for the scans and my doctor questioning the different measurements.
I am now trying to get an ENT specialist to evaluate the scans but would be really helpful to get your thoughts on the pics I have attached.
Do they look elongated?
Also should say that very few images were seen on my second CT scan disc, so not sure if they stuffed it up!
Sorry for the long winded story, and would truly be grateful for your input.
If you compare yours with a ‘normal’ length styloid process then you can see that they appear to be longer than they should be:
It doesn’t look like the ligaments are calcified (obviously we’re not doctors), so it’s maybe not that they’ve included calcified ligaments as well, which some radiologists do, so it is very weird!
I did see one piece of research which said that accurate measurements are difficult in different mediums, but these are all with a CT, so strange… I do know that quite a few members have found that their SPs removed during surgery are alot longer than they were measured at from the CT, so it’s not always accurate!
I agree w/ Jules’ assessment. They look a bit long to me as well, and the left one in particular looks very thick. I’m betting the second CT length estimate is wrong. I would be proactive & challenge the radiology clinic’s information. Let them know you think the styloid length was not correctly measured & ask for a second radiologist to evaluate your film.
Thank you very much Jules and Isaiah, find that the support and advice you give to be really helpful. I will push on and hopefully get some answers including consulting with Dr Cognetti. I will keep you informed of my developments. Sending you all my blessings
