Bell's Update

I had my appointment with Dr. Choi (the Ophthalmology and Oculofacial Plastic Surgeon) tonight. Dave and Emma ended up going with me. He did his exam and the results are in:

1) My eyes are healthy - and he dilated them to prove it!

2) The muscles around my left (the Bell's side) eye are just as strong as the muscles around my right eye.

3) He agreed with the ENT that I have sykenisis (cross wiring of the facial nerve/muscles) and he proposed a treatment plan.

Part 1 of the plan addresses the fact that the left side of my face tightens and my mouth lifts when I raise my eyebrows. For this he suggested using a small dose of Botox in my forehead to help me learn to not use and/or minimize the use of raising my eyebrows. There were minimal negative side effects (mainly bruising at the injection site), so I decided to go ahead and give this a try.

Part 2 of the plan addresses the left eye closing when I pucker or make certain shapes with my mouth during speech. The doctor suggested using a small dose of Botox around my eye to slightly weaken the muscles and prevent them from reacting when my mouth moves. There are more potential negatives to this treatment, primarily the risk that my eye could look/behave the way it did right after the Bell's started. I decided NOT to try this treatment right now. I am going to continue to do the exercises I have to see if I can continue to gain additional control over the eye.

Part 3 of the plan addresses things I didn't even really know where going on - Dr. Choi mentioned that he noticed small involuntary twitches and muscle spasms in the left side of my face and one of the muscles in my neck. He would like to treat that with Botox as well. At this point, I don't think I will follow up on Part 3 of the plan. This are things that I wasn't aware of, so they must not be too bad.

I go back to Dr. Choi in three weeks to follow up on the Botox injections that were done to my forehead tonight. If there is any news, I will let you know.....