[Anonymous October 6, 1996 at 5:54 pm Post count: 93172]

#1058473

Hi, Diana! The weekend’s here and I can finally check in with the support group!

Yes, as Jake stated, I had orbital decompression during the summer of ’93 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. The surgery was very successful, as I started to look like my old self – my eyes “sunk” back dramatically and I no longer looked buggy-eyed. My side effects did include puffiness and numbness in my face, mostly around my nose and upper lip. My doctors made the initial incisions inside of my mouth above my front teeth and entered through my sinuses. I have no scars from it (that you can see) and I felt no pain afterwards due to the numbness. In fact, the only real pain I remember was when they pulled the gauze OUT of my nose the day after surgery. DOUBLE OUCH! The numbness just felt tinglely, like when your arm falls asleep from laying on it. I had to wear gauze under my nose for a few days because it still drained some blood and other nose “juices.” The puffiness lasted a couple of weeks, but the numbness gradually wore off over a year’s time. It didn’t change my life in any way, and yes I could feel my nose dripping. (You just feel a sort of temperature change on your lip and you know it’s time to wipe! ) Today my front teeth and upper lip still feel slightly numb, but I only feel it when I think about it. I can handle that!

After the decompression surgery I had to have eye muscle surgery to correct the slight double vision problem I had. There, the only pain for me was blinking my eyes over the stitches, which lasted a little over a week. After that, I had lid retraction done to properly align my eyes over the irises and to allow them to close at night. I’m still working on that part of the surgery process, because my eyes weren’t closing completely. I had a second lid retraction done on my left eye this past June, and I plan on having my right eye done at the end of this month.

My doctors waited six weeks between each of the three surgeries. I was told that my case was more unusual because I had to have all three types of surgery. Hopefully, you’ll have better luck. It sounds like a lot of hospital time and pain, but it was all very bearable for me, and I would do it all over again in order to get my eyes back to “normal.” Looking at old pictures of the way it used to be makes me blurry. I’m so thankful to have had the excellent doctors at Mayo on my side.

Best of luck with your surgery next month. You’re welcome to call me at 507-736-8907 if you have more specific questions or just need to talk.

Wishing you happiness and energy,

Debby

[Anonymous October 10, 1996 at 9:26 pm Post count: 93172]

#1168612

Thank you, Debby, for the wonderful information. It will help me so much to know what to expect from the surgery/surgeries. I’m glad to know about the numbness; it sounds like a blessing in disguise after the surgery!! Like you, I am really looking forward to getting my “old” eyes back and to look like myself again. It is nice to hear that the surgery is worth all the effort. Thanks again for your input!!

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