Hi I am post on surgery going on 8 months now I still can not eat without having so much pain under m ear the cut from the top of my ear all the way to the middle of my neck I did find out he cut the styloid bone off are they supposed to do that everything I have read they are not because it makes everything unstructaly sound like along a nail out of a board any info at this point would be greatly appreciated
Hi kellycadiere, sorry you’re still in pain.
There are many people who have had their styloid and stylohyoid ligament completely removed, it seems to have no or minimal adverse effect on basic anatomical functions, and it should not cause pain. Other parts of the anatomy compensate for the missing styloid and ligament.
If you’re only having pain when you eat, it might be something called first-bite syndrome, which is an occasional complication of neck surgery. The symptoms are a serious attack of jaw/ear pain when taking the first bite of food, and the pain usually lessens with successive bites. This disorder often gets less severe with time, but apparently it doesn’t always.
If you’re having pain at this point, you should definitely see a doctor, and possibly request a new CT scan to see what’s going on.
Oh Kelly, that sounds miserable. I hope that you’ve been back to your surgeon to discuss that, and that some of your fellow members might have some words of wisdom for you
Seenie from ModSupport
Sorry to read that you’re in so much pain still- that is really rough for you.
The styloid process is normally cut to be removed, and the ligaments stripped from it first, so as callove says, that in itself wouldn’t be causing your pain. It could be that there’s nerve damage from the operation- that can take up to a year to heal sometimes. There are medications which can help with nerve pain, so it might be worth discussing this with your doctor- there’s info in the Newbies Guide section about it if you want that.
Is the pain only when you eat? If so as callove says it could be like first bite- that’s normally felt in the jaw & the cheek & it’s caused by nerves irritated after surgery affecting the parotid gland. I’ve had it below my ear as well though. It might help also to massage the area with some sort of oil for scar tissue, in case there’s ligaments or muscles getting tight? It would certainly be worth seeing your doctor again, see if there’s any medications which could help, and maybe seeing if there’s any sort of physiotherapy etc. you could try.
Best wishes, thinking of you…