Hi @BigBrosMo - I agree w/ @Henrick that your styloids are thick, angled & a bit longer than normal. In the images, it also looks to me like your hyoid bone is rotated to the left, however, that could be scan angle & not reality. Do you have any images from the front?
CT scans are done in slices & when a 3D image is measured, the space between the slices aren’t visible so aren’t taken into consideration. More often than not, surgeons find the styloids to be longer than measured when they go in to remove them. I also agree that you have bilateral stylohyoid ligament calcification. It looks more significant on the left than on the right which would also explain why your symptoms are worse on the left side.
Unfortunately, There is only one doctor listed for BC ( •Dr Mori, University of British Columbia (call first, told one member he doesn’t do surgery now), Tyler Mori, MD, FRCSC | Department of Surgery You could try calling his ofc to see whether he is doing ES surgery again or if you could get a referral to someone who does it in your province. I know of one person who had ES surgery in BC & ended up coming to the US for a revision surgery a year or two later because the BC surgery wasn’t done well. I don’t know who the surgeon was though. Though it’s difficult to see doctors in other provinces, there are a few others but further east:
•Dr. Dan O’Connell, 1E4 WMC, University of Alberta Hospital
8440 112 Street, Edmonton, AB, 780-407-4598, (https://headandneckclinic.ca/page.php?id=1#4 )
•Dr Eric Monteiro, Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Health Complex, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto 416-586- 4800 (possibly treat ES, he has done a surgery with Dr Ian Witterick, who no longer does ES surgery.) Our Physicians —
•Dr Michael Gupta, Hamilton, ON. https://surgery.mcmaster.ca/bio/michael-gupta
•Victoria General Hospital, Halifax, NS (one member had surgery here)
•Dr Stuart Richardson, Spring Garden Rd, Halifax, NS (Dentist, mentioned by a member back in 2014, diagnosed them and would do surgery, don’t know his experience.) Dr. Stuart Richardson - Halifax, NS - Dentist Reviews & Ratings - RateMDs
•Dr Mori, University of British Columbia (call first, told one member he doesn’t do surgery now), Tyler Mori, MD, FRCSC | Department of Surgery
•Dr Don Anderson - 3030 Lincoln Ave Unit 212, Coquitlam, BC V3B 6B4, 1-604-941-9191 (Does only shorten the styloids a bit though, so may not be enough to resolve symptoms)
•Dr Rick Jaggi, Saskatoon, SK, https://www.facecosmeticsurgery.ca
•Dr Khalid (Kal) Ansari, Edmonton, AB - Dr. Kal Ansari - Doctor/Clinic/Service Provider Profile - Medicard
•Dr. Russ Murphy, Saskatoon, SK - R. Murphy - College of Medicine - Medicine | University of Saskatchewan
•Dr. Norbert Viallet, Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Norbert Viallet - Otolayngologist - Head and Neck Surgical Oncologist at University of Manitoba | ZoomInfo
•Dr. Hodaie, via St. Michael’s or Toronto Western ENT departments/clinics
•Dr Kulbaba, Radiologist, ARC - MSK Ultrasound - Atlas Radiology Consultants will give opinions on CT scans and performs neck ultrasound
•Dr. Norbert Viallet, Winnepeg, Manitoba, https://phx.e-carms.ca/phoenix-web/pd/ajax/program/1435/18428?programLanguage=en
A number of our CA members have chosen to come to the US for ES surgery because the wait times are so ridiculous in CA, & their symptoms were bad enough they felt they couldn’t wait a year or more to see a doctor. I am so sorry you are in that situation yourself.
Dr. Cognetti ( •Dr David Cognetti, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia 215- 955- 6760 (Has done many successful surgeries on members). Only removes ligaments if calcified. https://hospitals.jefferson.edu/find-a-doctor/c/cognetti-david-m.html has been the “go to” doctor for our eastern CA members because the cost to see him for surgery is much lower than for many of the other surgeons on our list for the US. He is extremely experienced w/ ES surgeries & is one of the doctors who has been on our Doctors List the longest. He does telelhealth consults so you could call his ofc to see what information they need from you & at least set up a consult appointment as that alone could be very helpful. If you do have a consult w/ him, it’s important to find out if he removed calcified sections of the stylohyoid ligament as well as the styloid process.
Closer to you would be the surgeon who did my surgeries - Dr. Husein Samji ( •Dr Hussein Samji, Camino ENT Clinic, San Jose 408- 227- 6300 Camino Ear, Nose & Throat Clinic (one of the most experienced ES surgeons in the US, does external surgery.) Contact his medical assistant Yerelin@caminoent.com for a faster response. Dr. Samji doesn’t believe in vES). in San Jose, California, however, he places surgical clips in the neck during surgery which are left there & some people don’t like that idea. He also dislocates the jaw to get better access to the base of the styloid. People w/ TMJ issues sometimes have sore jaw joints for awhile after surgery because of that. I expect other surgeons use that tactic, too, but he’s the only one we know of for sure who does it.
Your symptoms sound quite miserable but on the good side, it does not sound like you have vascular compression being caused by your styloids or C1. Getting your left styloid & that section of calcified s-h ligament removed could go a long way toward helping your GPN recover thus stopping the symptoms you have.
