Struggle openning the mouth after cheek implants.

[carlaalves]

Girls,   I desperately need some information. I had ffs with Dr Bart van de Ven on Nov 18th (forehead, cheek implants, lip lift and adam's apple) and now, 3 weels later, I still can't open my mouth wide enough to bite on a cherry. I'm really concerned about it. If I had chin or jaw surgery I would expect that. But not from cheek implants.  Have any of you had cheek implants (without chin and jaw surgery ) and experienced something similar? How long did it take for you to open your mouth fully?
I sent am e-mail to Dr Bart explaining my concerns but only got a Standart "copy/paste" answer from his stuff which didn't really help much.
I would really appreciate your help.
Thank you!
Carla

[Yasmeen]

What did it say in that copy/paste e-mail? If I were you I'd e-mail him again.

[Donna Elvira]

Hi Carla,
I separately did both cheek implants and chin & jaw surgery with Drt Bart and think that what you're experiencing is not normal at all. I am also surprised that you have not received a satisfactory reply to your concerns as I always found Dr Bart's communication to be excellent.
Like Yasmeen, I'm curious to know what he did say and suggest you insist a bit if necessary.  You can also do a post on his Facebook group (Dr Bart FFs group)
Wishing you all the best.
Donna

[Dahlia]

I think your facial muscles need to adjust from a triple impact.
Is your liplift skin only or are the muscles involved?

And your facial muscles need some time to stretch around the implants.

[lemon_ice]

That sounds very odd, I had some reasonably sized cheek implants (porous polyethylene) done about two months ago, with chin work and some jaw tapering. I had no problem opening my mouth, well maybe a tiny bit at first due to the incisions being a little sore, but definitely not at 3 week post op! I was eating whatever I liked by that point!
Can you tell if your implants might have moved at all? Or if there is more swelling and pain than expected? There are quite a few potential issues like rejection or slow developing infections etc.. It sounds very abnormal to me, I really hope you get this checked out soon! maybe even see your normal doctor if your surgeon is not communicating well, dentists can be good to, maybe see if they can take an x-ray between your check and the inside of your mouth, I had this done when I had an issue with one of my cheek implants, it helped my surgeon a lot when we were communicating via email and a clinical exam. was not possible..

Well take care ok I really hope this gets resolved for you soon!

Claire

[carlaalves]

Hey girls,
I am chatting with another girl who also had cheek implants with Dr. Bart and she said she is having the same issue and that she thinks it is normal.
Just to clarify, I can open my mouth and can chew pretty much since the second day after the operation. The issue I'm having is that I can't open my mouth wide. The first two weeks I could only place one finger between upper and lower teeth and now I can place 2 finger above the other. That's not even enough to bite on a small Hamburger  :-(
Here is the e-mail I sent to Dr. Bart and bellow is the answer they sent me.
By the way, the mouth oppening issue is not the only one I'm experiencing. I also felt like if the implant on the right side was not correctly placed and wrote it on the email I sent to Dr. Bart.
I don't think I got a satisfactory answer.

This is the e-mail I sent:


> Hello,
> My name is Carla and I had ffs with Dr Bart 2 weeks ago. My recovery has been good and I haven't had any pain, but I'm extremely concerned about the cheek implant on the right side of my face.  When I touch my face it feels pretty normal on the left side.  I can feel the implant but everything feels soft and normal. But when I touch the right side it feels way harder and it extends to under my nose as if I had a bone coming from the cheek towards the bottom of my nose. It feels somehow like if the implant was not where it is supposed to be. If I place two fingers pointing up right next to both sides my nose I feel something hard under the right finger and nothing under the left one. I still can't open my mouth wide enough to get a spoon in. How long does it normally take for me to be able to open my mouth wide again?
> That is really disturbing me and I would like to know if it is something I should be concerned about or if it's just some kind of swelling or other post operative matter.
>
> Thank you very much.
>
> Carla Alves



This is the answer I got.

Dear Ms Alves,
Dr Bart van de Ven understands it is difficult for you to wait 4 months till the postoperative check-up with him.
Patients cannot imagine how much the face can change over that period. Dr van de Ven cannot be convinced to schedule another intervention before that moment. He will see you 4 months after the surgery, make pictures, evaluate them with you and then decide what should happen next.
If you don't wish to come for a consultation only you can also send him very good pictures as explained in http://facialfeminization.eu/surgical-and-financial-proposal/# that are taken 4 months after the surgery. He will then make an evaluation of the result and send you a new proposal.
We hope you understand his point of view.
The mouth opening you can practise by pushing your index fingers agains the lower front teeth and your thumbs against the upper ones. You can do this a few times a day and go just a bit over the pain limit.
Kind regards,
Rachel Simons, personal assistant Dr Bart van de Ven



So, according to Dr. Barts assistant, I have to wait 4 months to find out if something went wrong with my cheek implants. I don't think this is fair and I'm not even sure if Dr. Bart got informed about my e-mail whatsoever.

[Donna Elvira]

Hi Carla
The meaning of this phrase from the answer you got is not clear to me:

"If you don't wish to come for a consultation only you can also send him very good pictures as explained in http://facialfeminization.eu/surgical-and-financial-proposal/# that are taken 4 months after the surgery. He will then make an evaluation of the result and send you a new proposal."

I think he is suggesting you send him photos as explained here  http://facialfeminization.eu/practical/proposal/

What is clear is that without seeing you or seeing good photos of you he isn't in a position to evaluate what needs to be done. What would you have expected him to say to you?

[kelly_aus]

This is the answer I got.

Dear Ms Alves,
Dr Bart van de Ven understands it is difficult for you to wait 4 months till the postoperative check-up with him.
Patients cannot imagine how much the face can change over that period. Dr van de Ven cannot be convinced to schedule another intervention before that moment. He will see you 4 months after the surgery, make pictures, evaluate them with you and then decide what should happen next.
If you don't wish to come for a consultation only you can also send him very good pictures as explained in http://facialfeminization.eu/surgical-and-financial-proposal/# that are taken 4 months after the surgery. He will then make an evaluation of the result and send you a new proposal.
We hope you understand his point of view.
The mouth opening you can practise by pushing your index fingers agains the lower front teeth and your thumbs against the upper ones. You can do this a few times a day and go just a bit over the pain limit.
Kind regards,
Rachel Simons, personal assistant Dr Bart van de Ven



So, according to Dr. Barts assistant, I have to wait 4 months to find out if something went wrong with my cheek implants. I don't think this is fair and I'm not even sure if Dr. Bart got informed about my e-mail whatsoever.

I'd be surprised if the Doctor heard about it. This seems to be almost a standard response - Don't bug us until it's 4 months after surgery. I don't think this is good enough, nor do I think the 'assistant' did anything at all to assist you.  If this is standard, I'd hate to be a patient who does have an issue..

[carlaalves]

Read it once again, dear Donna.
She meant  (because the assistant answered and not Dr. Bart) that I should send a picture AFTER 4 MONTHS.  Meaning that if something went wrong with my surgery I will only be able to find out after 4 months.
Not helpful at all!

[Yasmeen]

Is it just me or does 'He will then make an evaluation of the result and send you a new proposal' sound very commercial?

[Yasmeen]

Read it once again, dear Donna.
She meant  (because the assistant answered and not Dr. Bart) that I should send a picture AFTER 4 MONTHS.  Meaning that if something went wrong with my surgery I will only be able to find out after 4 months.
Not helpful at all!

This reminds me of my SRS wit Suporn (who offers free revision after a year post-op): don't complain until you're a year post-op because the doctor won't see you before then. And then after a year post-op:

copy/paste..

'At the time you leave Dr Suporn's care, you are considered to have undergone the operation successfully, and in no need of revision. There is therefore nothing that we can suggest for you.'

Dr Bart's revisions aren't free (or at least not completely) so he probable would suggest something if there's something to suggest.

There's no doubt that there are many patients who have concerns that more or less resolve themselves within 4 months. Yet, if I were you I'd wanna know if dr Bart actually read your e-mail. I guess the only thing you can do to find out is e-mail again and ask?

[carlaalves]

My issue is pretty much acceptable.
I can't open my mouth wider than enough to put 2 fingers in, but I can chew without a problem. And the one implant feels strange, but luckly it still looks harmonic with the other side.
The only thing that bothers me is that, this is something that is only temporary acceptable, because after a while I want to be able to do what a was able to do pre surgery. And if the Dr. at least answered me how long it takes to get better and the reason why it happened  (and if it is normal) it would really comfort me. I think postoperative care is very important and doctors should be a bit more human and less commercial in this concern.

[Donna Elvira]

My issue is pretty much acceptable.
I can't open my mouth wider than enough to put 2 fingers in, but I can chew without a problem. And the one implant feels strange, but luckly it still looks harmonic with the other side.
The only thing that bothers me is that, this is something that is only temporary acceptable, because after a while I want to be able to do what a was able to do pre surgery. And if the Dr. at least answered me how long it takes to get better and the reason why it happened  (and if it is normal) it would really comfort me. I think postoperative care is very important and doctors should be a bit more human and less commercial in this concern.

Carla,
I agree that the answer to your inquiry could have been better but in practise, from what you describe I'm not sure what more could have been said. You say yourself that anatomically all looks OK and without an examination which involves feeling the muscles etc. how is any doctor supposed to make a diagnosis?  However if you believe you have something obvious that warrents attention, why don't you ask for a Skype consultation? You can do it directly on his website.

I had malar implants done as well when I did my upper face FFS in July 2011. Unfortunately, the screw fixing one of them to the cheek bone didn't hold and it started to move. Within one month I was back again to have it redone without any problem from Dr Van de Ven. I also finally found the profiles of the implants too harsh and when I went back the following year for my lower face surgery, he burred them down free of charge.

Lastly, when I did my lower face surgery it included a MACS facelift. I had been warned by Bart that because of swelling the results might not but optimal but that it was worth giving it a try. Because of very severe post surgery swelling the results weren't optimal so he redid the facelift free of charge one year later.

In my experience he is a very decent guy but sometimes there are glitches in communication
Wishing you all the best.
Donna

P.S. Did you try his Facebook group?  From what I've seen, he does actually look at what's posted there.