[oahz]

#1059747

So there is a hole in the side of your skull.
How does that feel?

what happens if you use your index finger to poke at the side of your head where the hole is located? how does that feel? does it feel any different than before?

[Kimberly]

#1177242

I haven’t had this surgery, but I’m quite confident that the surgeon would patch you up well enough that you should NOT notice a difference.

As I recall, you do not have Graves’ or thyroid eye disease. For patients with these conditions, one possible complication is double vision, but you would need to speak to your surgeon about the chance of this issue occurring in your case.

[gatorgirly]

#1177243

I did not have lateral wall (medial, floor, and fat behind eyes) but I almost did until my surgeon went to a conference a month before my surgery and spoke to several other surgeons who agreed it wouldn’t yield enough of a benefit for my particular case. The way it was explained to me, they make incisions in your crow’s feet (which I do not have…yet) and remove bone from the inside, not an entire chunk. I would compare it to sanding a wall versus cutting a hole in it. I was reassured neither I nor anyone would ever be able to tell there was bone removed, except for the fact that my eyes were back where they belonged.

[hollygsmith]

#1177244

I had a 3 wall decompression that inlcuded the lateral wall. They remove bone from the inside of your eye orbit as gatorgirly said. I can’t tell anything was removed. It feels completely normal.

[oahz]

#1177245

There are several form of lateral wall decompressions.

Depending on the degree of proptosis the surgeon may:

trimmed the lateral to make it thinner
cut a hole and remove part of the lateral wall
or removed the entire lateral wall.

even though i have only 1.5mm proptosis, my surgeon told me that just trimming the wall wonldn’t be enough. he would have to cut a hole and remove part of the wall

[snelsen]

#1177238

I had a three wall decompression, including the lateral wall. The main reason for the OD was for optic neuropathy. I think he removed part of the lateral wall. Maybe all of the medial wall. I do have a copy of the procedure someplace, and if I can dig it up, I will write back with more detail.

You sound pretty informed, with info from the surgeon you were consulting with. Did you ask him/her your question about poking at the side of your head ? That did not occur to me, even to ask the question, and I don’t have any issues or notice anything at all.

Good luck getting everything answered, and moving forward with your OD.
SHIRLEY

[oahz]

#1177239

hi snelsen,

i did ask him about the poking issue. he said it would feel the same as it is now.

however, i’m still quite adamant about this.

i’m thinking if you remove the bone and there is a hole, then the only thing left are the muscles. muscles are soft tissue.

so if you were to push at soft issue using your finger, there has to be give.

i don’t know.

have you poked at the side of your head with your finger? does it have resistance like it did before when the bone was still there and there is no hole?

[snelsen]

#1177240

Yes, I have. No difference between the two sides. I had only one OD on the left.
Shirley

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