Permanent swelling?

[Pandora]

Hi, I'm new here (technically I was lurking when I was going through my surgery ) and I haven't heard of anyone having this problem so I came here to ask.

I had lower jaw surgery about four or five years ago to bring my jaw forward. Since then I've been having problems with the right side of my jaw. First it became infected and the plate became exposed, so I had the plate replaced with a stronger one and was sewn up again. Then the swelling didn't go away and I found out that because of the infection I had a fracture that didn't heal, so a bone growth protein was put in there and the plate was replaced again because the other one was too big. I have a very narrow face so you could feel it in there. After that, the swelling still didn't go away. As expected, the bone grew a little too much. The plate broke because of it. So, in my most recent surgery - about a month ago - the bone was shaved down and the plate taken out altogether. The initial swelling went away very quickly, but now I'm left with how I looked before the surgery - still noticeably swollen and all the more noticeable because my face is so small. It doesn't seem like it's going to go away.

So my question is, has anyone has this problem before and what on earth could cause it to still be swollen??

[missesfood]

This is probably a question better suited for your surgeon/doctor, but there is something called a bone callus that grows after breaks or fractures. It is basically an overgrowth of bone over a fracture, like a scab. This can mimic swelling when actually it's bone. However, a bone callus is supposed to be resorbed/reformed after a year or so assuming you begin using the bone normally again. Even though you had surgery a few years ago, if your multiple operations were about a year or less from each other, maybe you're disrupting the callus reformation (or your body has to keep growing a new one)?

Just an idea of mine, but as I said, it would be best to talk to your surgeon.

[carmenjimenez]

Hey,

My mom is also suffering from the same problem, But due to thyroid she has got the swelling. It is very painful and dangerous.