Is a drooping eye normal post-orbital floor fracture surgery?

Question

Hello doctor,

I got assaulted last year. I got kicked in the face, and due to this, two weeks after my injury, I had to have a tripod put on the left side of my face. Two weeks after that, my eye was drooping, and I had to have the floor of my eye orbital replaced. The surgeon said my eye was pushed back 0.19 inches, and the floor was gone, and he had to rebuild a new floor and move my eye forward.

The surgery was done a year ago. It has been over a year, and my eye still looks droopy to me. At times throughout the day, it also tends to open up around it, making it look extremely worse. I also still have no feeling in my face, and if I drink alcohol, my face drops a bit. I am guessing that had something to do with it, relaxing my nerves. To me, it just looks like it is getting worse. I do not like the outcome of it; there are people who tell me they cannot tell, and others who notice it right away. I see a huge difference.

My eye looks lazy and glossy. This has been really aggravating to me, considering that this is my face. From the research I did, I understand it can take up to a year to appear normal again. Is this true? Will my eye elevate on its own? Will I ever get feeling back in my face? I think it should be getting a lot better, and to me, it is not. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Please help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I have gone through your query.

I will attempt to answer individual parts of your query separately to maintain clarity.

Starting with appearance, yes, it is a gradual process of normalization, and it will get better with time. First year produces most of that improvement, the improvement will continue, but at a much-reduced pace after the first year. After the second year, further progress is unlikely. What you see at the end of two years is pretty much it in terms of appearance.

Moving on to the second part of the query, the numbness and face dropping are due to nerve damage; it depends on how bad the nerve injury is and what type of injury it is. Nerves may have injuries ranging from a mild crush or stretch to a full severance or transsection.

Since you only report numbness and dropping when alcohol is consumed, not more severe symptoms of facial paralysis with drooling saliva, I am assuming it is a milder type of injury. If that is the case, the numbness will slowly improve over the years, but nerve tissue is inherently slow-healing by nature, so it will take some time. It is unfortunate that you must experience this trauma, and I wish you all the best for your recovery.

I hope this helps.

Kindly revert in case of further queries.

Thank you.