Not being able to open your mouth wide is pretty common after surgery, I think mine lasted a week to 10 days , it usually resolves soon 
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Now 12 days post-op, quick update: Pain seems to be reducing, I took a day off from Tylenol and did fine, but developed a bad headache so I’m back on until it goes away. Still have quite a bit of swelling in my neck and cheek areas. Cheek seems to be improving faster than my neck. All the glue flaked off of my incision which made the incision look smaller and better (there was a bunch of blood caught in the glue so the incision looked kinda black and the glue was thick so the whole thing looked bigger). My symptoms haven’t improved yet, keeping my fingers crossed on that. Bottom lip still pretty paralyzed on the right side. Overall I’m functional though. Jaw pain diminished so I can eat regular food, just need to use my hand to hold my right lip away from my teeth! Follow up with Dr. Nakaji early this coming week.
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@RickAZ - Thank you for your update. Good news that your pain is reducing & you can eat more normally now. Inflammation usually takes 4-8 weeks to subside substantially & as swelling reduces, symptoms often begin to reduce/disappear - that will include your funky lower lip. Sometimes a lip droop/facial nerve takes more like 4-6 months to fully recover, but they usually do recover fully.
Please let us know how your appointment w/ Dr. Nakaji goes. I hope he’s happy with where you are in your recovery process. 
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Sorry that your ES symptoms haven’t diminished yet, hopefully soon, if you’re still quite swollen that won’t be helping… This info that @premedmom posted might be helpful once the wound has healed:
How to do Lymphatic Self-Massage on Your Face, Head and Neck
Good your pain’s reducing, praying that things improve
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Appreciate you sharing your experience an I hope you are on your way to feeling better so soon!
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Just wanted to provide a quick update. I’m just under 10 weeks post op. I could go into how I’m feeling symptom by symptom but it’s easier to just say that I’m not much better after surgery #1. Just about all of my symptoms persist.
The surgery I had was right side, but my left is the worse side (by quite a bit) so I was expecting to need both sides done so I’m not too surprised by this or too disappointed. It seemed like a very slim ray of hope that I’d suddenly get better after having the right side done.
The new symptom that I got from my surgery (lower right lip paralysis) has been improving very slowly. I have quite a bit more sensation and movement in it, eating is mostly fine now (I have trouble with taking big bites out of things, like eating a sandwhich, and I have to drink a bit more slowly to avoid having liquid pour out of my mouth, and if I smile big you can see it but if I stick to small smiles it’s not too noticable. I’d guess that I have about half of my mobility back and I feel like I get some small improvement about every week (it’s week to week improvement, not day to day). Overall I’m confident it will return to full function over the next couple of months.
I saw Dr. Nakaji at 8 weeks, and we scheduled my left side surgery for June 1st. I’m looking forward to that, hoping to be able to at least put the major surgeries behind me. He’s warned me that my left side is bad enough that its very possible that it won’t just open up from surgery, I may need a balloon dialation or something like that afterwards. But I’ve done balloon dialations before and they are nothing compared to the surgery so having the surgery behind me will be a big important step.
Sorry for not providing more updates. Truth is not much has been changing. It took about 2 weeks for me to feel pretty normal (my normal anyway) after the surgery so the recovery wasn’t too bad. After that though, symptom progress hasn’t been great. Hopefully surgery #2 will have a much bigger impact (June 1st!)
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@RickAZ - Thank you for your update. I’m sorry you didn’t get improvement that was more significant but I am glad to know your lip paralysis is recovering bit by bit.
I put your surgery date on my calendar & will be praying that the second surgery will make a huge difference in how you feel.
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I’m sorry too that you’ve not had more progress after your first surgery, but good you’re realistic about the reasons… @Sammi had facial paralysis after surgery, hers has recovered significantly, she’s posted quite a bit about this if you’re interested:
For those that have had surgery: Facial asymmetry before and after surgery? - General - Living with Eagle
I hope your second surgery gives you better results, I’ll pray too for that
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Hi, like @Jules said, I had full paralysis of the right side of my face post op and it took about 3 to 4 months before I saw significant recovery and recovery started speeding up. My lip was one of the slowest parts to recover (I am still seeing slight improvements across facial symmetry now at 8 months post op). It was very stressful and frustrating to deal with but the chances of full recovery are really high for those kind of symptoms because they tend to be related to the nerve overstimulation and/or swelling. I am 8 month post op and dealing with some of the side effects of long term nerve recovery but overall am doing well and people would never know by looking at me that any of the paralysis ever happened. I can sympathize with the food frustrations. The anxiety of eating in public and having to find foods that were easy enough to eat was the worst part for me. Good luck with your continued recovery!! I’m here if you have any questions!
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@Sammi - So great that your facial paralysis is recovering well! I hope the other remaining symptoms disappear one by one until all are gone. I had some that took more than a year to go but they finally did.
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Thank you for popping back @Sammi 
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Thank you Sammi, that sounds like it would have been really scary and difficult to deal with. My problems seem tiny in comparison. Great to know that you’re recovering and it’s great to know more about timelines for recovery. I think I can detect mild improvements sort of week by week. Did you have surgery on both sides? I’m a little concerned about having the other side done while still partially paralyzed on the first side, but it may just return me to symmetry!
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I am glad you are seeing improvements. I have not had the other side done as I have no significant Eagle’s symptoms on that side at this time (though scans show that that side is also elongated, so I know it may be a future possibility). I do understand the worry about further paralysis. That is one of my worries should I have to get the other side done eventually because this whole experience was so stressful.
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I’m glad that you’re seeing some improvements, however small!
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Quick update just over 5 weeks post op (2nd side): I still have all symptoms but I think there is some improvement. They have always fluctuated but it seems like the peaks and valleys are both lower, average is probably a bit better too. I definitely seem to have less pressure in my ears, sometimes when I swallow they don’t even pop! Lip paralysis on the right side (from January surgery) is pretty much resolved. Left side/June surgery it was much more mild and is also pretty much resolved already. I’m hoping progress will continue, planning to have more imaging in August to see where things stand.
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I’m glad there’s a very small improvement by the sound of it, definitely taking it’s time but going the right way! Good that the facial paralysis has improved soon
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Thank you for your update, @ RickAZ. It’s good news that you’re feeling somewhat better even if the changes aren’t by leaps & bounds. Remember the tortoise & the hare - slow but steady wins the race. Steady, consistent, slow healing will provide a solid basis for good long-term recovery. I expect that’s your body’s approach. Please continue to keep us posted as to how your recovery is progressing.
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I’m looking into Dr. Nakaji and would love to know how you are feeling now after 2 surgeries! You are a trooper!
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Hi Teresa, thanks for the interest. I’m approaching 3 months post op now, and I have an appointment with Dr Nakaji next week.
I still have a multitude of symptoms. They’ve always fluctuated so it’s difficult to say how much better they are. It does feel like on average they have continued to improve. The pressure and popping in my ears is probably the most significant improvement. It’s still there but it’s definitely less intense, and there are times when I swallow when it feels pretty normal (no popping at all). It always comes back, but it’s been a constant thing for years now so the short-term disappearances are noticeable signs of improvement.
the pulsitile tinnitus has also been constant and intense for years now. It does seem like the wave amplitude has reduced though. I’m hoping that it’s slowly reducing until it finally goes away but it’s really hard to tell how much better it is vs how much could be my wishful thinking and/or lack of ability to judge it clearly over time. Any improvements have come slowly so it’s hard to tell. I understand that is common from reading this forum, so maybe I’m on a 6-8 month trajectory or something 
. Visual snow is also a constant for me, no improvement there
My other symptoms come and go (pressure in my throat, along the side of my face, and in my upper teeth, and cognitive issues), they may be less frequent but it’s hard to tell for sure. I wasn’t logging them before.
Based on my limited experience speaking with others that have been thru surgery with dr Nakaji (I have coffee with a couple of them periodically) it seems that the most immediate improvements come when you have big boney styloids removed. If you’re more vascular it takes more time and/or of you have nerve involvement even more time. I’m on the vascular and nerve side. all of us really like dr Nakaji and Dr Mehta, they are both great.
I’ll see dr Nakaji next week and expect him to order some new imaging to see the status of my ijv compression and we’ll go from there. I’m excited to see the before and after and determine (hopefully) if I’m on a wait for improvements path or a need more work path.
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I’m glad that you’ve seen a few improvements at least from the surgery, and I hope that as you say you’re looking at a longer trajectory for healing… Thank you for coming back to update us, will you let us know how you get on with your next appointment please?
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