Facial Nerve Decompression Surgery
Facial Nerve Decompression is a type of surgery that involves removing the bone that is constricting the seventh cranial nerve.
Some facts about Facial Nerve Decompression Surgery:
- There are two facial nerves, one for each side of the face that originates in the brain and controls the muscles.
- Facial muscle twitching, weakness, or paralysis can be a result of facial nerve damage.
- Watering of the eye on the affected side, inability to close the eye completely on the affected side, leading to dryness, dryness of the mouth, change in taste perception, deviation of the mouth to the unaffected side, loss of wrinkling of the forehead on the affected side, loss of nasolabial fold (smile lines) on the affected side and dribbling of saliva are some of the signs and symptoms of facial nerve damage.
- The Surgery for Facial Nerve Decompression is very challenging as the nerve follows a meandering path from the brain stem to the face.
- The pressure on the nerve can be relieved, possibly preventing permanent nerve damage and accelerating your recovery if the decompression surgery is performed within two weeks of the onset of symptoms.
- A diagnostic test called electroneurography will be performed which measures muscle response to nerve stimulation to determine if a decompression procedure is required.
- Your doctor performs electroneurography at the time of diagnosis with the help of an audiologist.
- Often, the test is repeated two days later to determine if nerve activity has improved.
- The nerve is recovering if activity continues to increase and a person can regain control of facial muscles without surgical intervention.
- Complete recovery may take 3 to 6 months as the amount of control a person has over the facial muscles improves slowly.
- A doctor may consider decompression surgery to help the nerve recover if there is no nerve activity or it has not improved and if the paralyzed nerve has less than 10 percent of the amount of nerve activity on the healthy side of the face.
- Nerve decompression or neurolysis may be a useful treatment option when muscles are not signaled to contract and areas of the skin feel numb
- Nerve Decompression procedures are useful in treating Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Chronic Headaches, Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, Diabetic Neuropathy, Peroneal Nerve Entrapment, Radial Tunnel Syndrome, Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.
Procedure for Facial Nerve Decompression Surgery:
- Generally a Nerve Decompression surgery takes less than one-hour per surgical site.
- General anesthesia will be used during the procedure.
- The tight fascia, muscle, tendon, and sometimes bone that are compressing the nerve will be surgically released and the scar tissue around it will be cut out.
- Space will be provided for the nerve by this surgery, giving it a chance to regenerate its outer myelin sheath resulting in speedier electrical signals and return of movement, feeling, and function.
- The nerve will be approached by the surgeon from above the ear through the skull.
- The bony canal surrounding the facial nerve will be drilled and the nerve is exposed when the nerve is compressed by swelling (edema), hematoma (blood clot), or a fracture in the skull.
- The sheath around the facial nerve is slit to relieve the pressure applied to the nerve due to swelling or blood clots.
- The surgical area is wrapped in a soft dressing after surgery.
- You may need to be in the hospital for two days after surgery for observation.
- The nerve may take a long time to recover after decompression surgery.
- The sutures are removed after 10 days of surgery.
- You should have follow-up visits in the interval of two months to monitor your recovery.
- Physical therapists will help you regain control over your facial muscles in a way that looks natural.
