Posted by pjgirl on March 24, 2008 at 21:56:37:In Reply to: Post MMA removal of plates/screws posted by HVMMA guy on March 24, 2008 at 13:06:50:
I’m sorry to hear that you have run into an infection and wish you the best in your upcoming surgery.
I had some of the plates removed from my upper jaw (7w after the MMA) and the plates/screw removed from the lower right jaw (~2.5 mos after my MMA). For the lower jaw plate, I had a similar experience. I noticed a small lump on my lower jaw where the screw was located. We tried to clear the infected area and hoped it would heal on its own. However within a few days, realized that it wasn’t going to work and I was going to see the hospital staff again.
Getting the plate removed from the lower jaw is a WHOLE lot easier than the MMA! It is a same day procedure. I went into surgery at 5p and was home a few hours later
Here’s some feedback:
-Pain level: Took vicodin the evening of surgery and was out like a light the rest of the evening. Just used 1-2 Ibuprofin occasionally for the next few days.
-Swelling: It was localized to the lower jaw. Looked exactly like I had just had my wisdom teeth pulled. Love the lopsided chipmunk look! Within ~1.5 wk, I was back to the “pre-plate removal” state.
-Talking: It was a little uncomfortable the day following surgery, but I was doing pretty good by day #2.
-Eating: I had to move the eating to opposite side of the mouth. It did slow down how fast I could eat!
-Cleaning: I had to irrigate the area with saline several times a day for the next couple of weeks.
-Work: I worked from home the day following surgery and actually went into work for a few hours on day #2. It was a little difficult from an energy level and I got really tired. I ended up taking the rest of the week off and returned back to work on Monday (6 days after surgery) not from the pain but from the lack of energy. Also, I’m not sure what your surgeon will require in terms of follow ups after the plate removal, but I had to see mine often to see if we had a handle on the infection. I did these follow ups on the way to work.Hope this helps. These are just my timeframes and you may spring back faster than I did. I was pretty exhausted when the infection was identified and was also still waiting to get my energy back. Since I had the MMA, upper plate removal, and the infection/lower plate removal, I was having problems maintaining weight. Once the infection was deemed under control, weight was no longer an issue and my energy levels started to come back in a matter of days. I was back on the recovery path!
I wish you the best of luck. Pls let us know how you do!