I’m new to this community and I’m just looking for advice and infos. I am based in Sydney.
On November 15th 2025 the right side of my face went paralysed, I couldn’t close my eye and the right side of my lip was dropping.
I went to the emergency room as I thought I was having a stroke. They ruled out the stroke and diagnosed me with Bell’s Palsy, sent me home with a couple of days of steroids and told me to be patient as it would take weeks to recover. I was in a lot of pain for the first 2 months, pain starting from underneath my right ear. My GP sent me for an MRI and the report mention possible eagle syndrome.
After 3 months wait to see an ENT specialist, I met with Dr Taplin, who couldn’t help me and referred me to another specialist Dr Catherine Meller. After another month wait to see her, she had me do a CT scan and another MRI to see how things have develop.
This was last week and it is now almost 7 months since it all started and I still haven’t regain any mobility from the right side of my face.
The new MRI confirmed the eagle syndrome diagnosis, my styloid process is 8cm long and is completely compressing the facial nerve which explains my paralysis.
They are planning to remove the bone on July 2nd to free up the nerve and hope I will have movements on my face again but can’t be sure as they have never seen this before.
I am just wandering if anyone in this community has had experience like this or heard anything similar. Any advice or comments would be appreciated.
I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I asked AI because I was curious whether facial paralysis had ever been reported with Eagle syndrome, and it did find that it appears to be very rare, but there are some case reports of Eagle syndrome presenting like Bell’s palsy/peripheral facial palsy, especially when an elongated styloid affects the facial nerve near where it exits the skull.
I’m not giving medical advice, but a few questions that might be worth asking your surgeon before July 2nd if you haven’t already are whether they plan to use facial nerve monitoring during surgery, whether the exact point of compression has been identified on imaging, and whether facial nerve testing such as EMG/ENoG would be useful to estimate recovery potential.
I had right side temporary facial nerve paralysis after surgery and lost the ability to blink and move the right side of my face, but in my case it was called neuropraxia and came back quickly. Your situation sounds different because it has been prolonged compression, but I wanted to mention that nerve irritation can sometimes recover once the cause is addressed. I really hope decompression gives your nerve a chance to recover.
@Arnaud - Welcome to our forum! I’m sorry for the terrible symptoms you’ve got & for how long it took you to get a proper diagnosis but am glad you have one now & the cause of your symptoms is clear.
Is it Dr. Meller who will be doing your surgery? If so, did she mention whether she plans to use the intraoral (through the throat) or transcervical (through the neck) approach? We advocate for our members to see surgeons who are experienced w/ the transcervical approach as we feel it’s safer since doctors can see the veins, arteries, nerves, muscles & other soft tissues which surround the styloids when they doing surgery, plus the styloids can usually be cut closer to the skull base (which is ideal) via an external incision. Several critical cranial nerves are also usually monitored during a transcervical surgery. During intraoral surgery, the soft tissues can’t be seen so the surgeon is essentially cutting “blind” into your throat to access the styloid. Intraoral surgeries also come with a slower recovery, & higher risk of post op infection because the incision is in your throat & is exposed to food & drink you consume.
Nerve recovery can be quite slow, taking up to a year or more for complete recovery, though nerves tend to heal in fits & spurts so there is often significant symptoms relief w/in the first 2-4 months after surgery. I think there’s a good chance you’ll get significant symptoms recovery once your VERY LONG styloid is removed. If your other styloid is also elongated, you may need to have it taken care of later as the symptoms it’s causing may flare up more once the 8 cm styloid is gone.
Please let us know when you have a surgery date as @Jules & I like to pray for our members on & around their surgery dates.
I agree with what the others have said, the facial nerve is commonly affected with ES, and we have had members who’ve had spells of paralysis or weakness, and been mis-diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, but not normally lasting as long as yours has… We have a list of questions we suggest members ask their doctors before surgery, so this might be something you want to look at:
How many ES surgeries have they done and what was the success rate?
Whether they’re going to operate externally, or intraoral- through the mouth. Whilst some members have had successful surgeries with intraoral, external is better for seeing all the structures, to be able to remove more of the styloids, & also there’s less chance of infection.
You need to ask how much of the styloid he’ll remove- as much as possible is best- & anything left needs to be smoothed off. The piece needs to be removed too- some doctors have snapped it off & left it in! If the styloid is only shortened a bit it can still cause symptoms.
If your stylohyoid ligaments are calcified, then any calcified section needs to be removed too.
There’s usually swelling after surgery; you could ask if a drain’s put in to reduce swelling, or if steroids are prescribed. It’s not essential, but can help with recovery a bit.
Will it be a day case surgery or will you need to stay in?
Obviously ask the risks- we know from experience on here that temporary damage to the facial nerve is quite common, and also the hypoglossal nerve and the accessory nerve. These usually recovery very quickly but in some cases members have needed physiotherapy. There is also the risk of catching a blood vessel or having a stroke, but these are very rare.
Ask if the surgeon monitors the nerves- this should be done to see if there’s stress on the nerves to avoid damage as mentioned above.
What painkillers will be prescribed afterwards.
Ask about recovery- most doctors either down play it or are genuinely unaware of how long the recovery can take!
We have heard that occasionally doctors use surgical clips which are left in, it’s been suggested that these could interfere with chiropractic adjustments if needed post-surgery, so something to consider, and also we have now seen members who’ve been left in pain from the clips and needed further surgery to remove them, so do ask if they might be used.
The facial nerve is extremely fragile, and exits the skull near the ear and the styloid process, so if your styloid is compressing it, the styloid would need to be removed very close to the skull base, and not just shortened, which not all doctors do.
If you’re interested in the anatomy to help you understand the way the nerve can get irritated, this video by Dr Costantino has been posted, about 10 minutes in there’s a really good explanation: New Video from Dr Costantino Regarding Jugular Vein Compression and Surgical Intervention - General / Research Papers - Living with Eagle