Hi Overcomer1, my surgeon was Eric Lentsch in Charleston, SC at MUSC. He’s been doing Eagle Syndrome surgeries for 26 years. Fantastic doc. I was leary at first because I had read that if it wasn’t an external surgery it would grow back. He has assured me that with the way he did it, he rounds the edges, cuts doesn’t break off the bones. He took both sides all the way back to the original ligaments you are born with. He has never had a regrowth in all of his surgeries and only a couple of patients whose symptoms didn’t go away after surgery (meaning it wasn’t Eagles Syndrome). Mine were both calcified from the skull base to the hyoid bone (sling). Excessively long. He made multiple incisions in my mouth (throat, behind each lower back tooth) in order to remove all the way to ligaments. I have had a fairly easy recovery, but long. My symptoms were gone immediately. Ear pain, facial nerve pain, headaches, pain in my neck, sore throat, pain when yawning, hoarse, and the list is endless. Now all I am dealing with is the healing process. Occasional pain in my jaw if I talk or chew too much. Tired. He told me to count on a year before total healing. So I try to take it easy as much as possible. I’m almost 5 months post op. Surgery was last Dec 4th. I would highly recommend this doctor. I did see one in Gainesville Florida at UF Shands first, he wanted to do external only. My gut said no, there had to be a better way. So far so good. I suffered for 7 years before I was accidentally diagnosed by a dentist.