Hi Cait,
I too had a bad dent caused by muscle wasting. I waited two years and then had fat grafting surgery to repair it. They take fat from your abdomen, process it and then inject it into the dent. Worked really well. Regarding the jaw pain, I’m almost six years post surgery and still have days where my jaw hurts. I stay away from anything hard or chewy and it is fine.
You are still very early in your healing so be patient. Best wishes~ Laura
I am 11 years post clipping and my right temple is still sunken. I don't know if it does get better or not. I wear my hair so that it is not really noticeable.Actually, I wear a wig and I also have a dent in my forehead from my skull being dented in, but I am just glad to be alive. Dr. Ringer was my neurosurgeon and when I initially saw him after the surgery. I thanked him and he said "you thank God, because the type of aneurysm that you had only about 15% of the people survive." That means that 85% of the people die. So I am really just grateful to be alive.
I am 7 months out from surgery. I have also noticed more prominent dents in my temple region. I also have jaw pain as well. My hair is growing back on my scar line. My surgeon never cut my hair at my request. It made healing so much easier because the scars could not be seen . I had 29 staples on my scalp.
In the same boat with both. Have a nice dent and my dr. Offered the fat injection. I am 3.5 years post surgery and ya know what? It’s a battle wound I’m proud of. Sure it’s crazy but so is surviving brain surgery.
Jaw pain…haha again close to 4 years out and when I chew too much gum I pay the price but yes, eventually it lessons. I had a bad tooth but could not open my jaw enough or long enough so suffered through that for a year and a half before I went to the dentist. I still have head pain. Lots especially when my nerves “wake up” but I’m alive. And so are you and so, thankfully, is everyone else posting. It does get better I promise, it’s just slow. Love your dent, love your scars, love your life and congratulations sweetie. May the rest of your life be full of wonder and joy!!!
Hi Cait.
I’m a newbie to replies. This is my the first reply. Yes, the jaw pain will dissipate over time. I also have a deep dent. I also experienced temple pressure with damp inclement weather but that to went away in time. We are thankful and blessed!!!
A year and three months here and I too have that dent also if I rub my hand over the top of my forehead I can feel little tiny bumps. My Jaw pain went away after about 6 months however the worse feeling I have is from the incision to get to my skull via through my scalp it feels like I have heavy glass's sitting on my head all the time. I was back to work full time after three months, two clips one Annie rupture they clipped the other to prevent if from happening. Had 50/50 chance of living and here I am. I get my 1 1/2 check up in June I sure hope everything is AOK up there cause I wouldn't wish this on anyone ANYONE. Take care and keep talking about it cause you could be the voice for someone else if it were to happen to them.
Cait! I have the dent, too. It will stop getting larger after a few more months. I don’t want to have plastic surgery but you have the option. Just wait a while and see…Also ask a good dentist to show you some stretching exercises for your jaw. It can help. Lastly, I had an angiogram one year after clipping. This summer is two years later and I’ll have some kind of scan, then I think they’ll check me once every few years. Be well!!
Thank you all so much again for your kind responses. It is such a blessing to be able to relate to so many great people and to reach out to so many others. I appreciate each and every one of your responses! So blessed and thankful to have made it through this ordeal and hope to connect with many more people to help give and receive advice in the future.
Hi Jennifer, Good to read your progress. Yes, I'm at my 6 month recovery point also after clipping. Yes, my left side temple has sunken. I still experience slight Jaw pain every so often. I still get headaches and a 'heavy head' and also neck pain. I wouldn't say that I'm back to my old self yet...I am 53. But I shouldn't complain after reading what could have been. All the best.
Congrats on your 6 month mark!!
I have a dent too, and I'm rather vain about it. I cover it up with bangs and don't change my part, or it will show. I've heard that botox can puff it up, but I'm not a needles fan, so that's not an option for me.
Jaw pain - that's something new for me; I see others have commented on it.
There is a book about a woman who recovered from an aneurysm, it's called Stir. She has a significant defect after her surgery, and I enjoyed reading her book because it helped me feel a little more normal after reading all she had gone through. (She fixes her dent, by the way -which took A LOT of chutzpah after all she had gone through). I'll continue to hide mine with a comb over, hopefully no one thinks I'm Donald Trump's daughter!
Congrats on your six months! I am 10 months post op and my jaw pain has diminished. Initially, I had difficulty eating and opening my mouth, but now there are not any problems, I too, have a dent in my temple. It seems to have improved with time. I look at it as a token of success, I am here today and have endured. A true blessing!
I’ve been reading the long posts…
May I ask if the “dent” has anything to do with ‘ruptured’ or ‘unruptured’ craniotomy?
I am preparing for a dent to show up after reading the posts. However, since it’s only less than a month after my craniotomy, I am more interested to find out when should I be ‘seeing’ the dent to show up? Right now, I have some pain when I floss my left jaw (I had a left ICA craniotomy). Other than that, I have some little pain from time to time in my head, or near the staples area. Not that I want some real pain but I really didn’t experience much of it. Therefore, I am like, “hmm, is it too good to be true?” “There got to be some bad news down the road”… Therefore, just curious if I should be prepared to see a dent soon?
I do not believe there is any correlation between the dent and if there was a rupture or not. It is caused by the cutting of the temporalis muscle to perform a craniotomy. Some get it, some don’t, some are super subtle and some are pretty deep dents. I did not begin to notice a dent until a few months out from the surgery since there was still some swelling to the temporal area so that may be why you have not noticed any indentation, if you get any at all. I did not feel much pain either aside from the jaw pain and trouble with opening my mouth to eat certain larger things such as sandwiches, but 2 years out and that has nearly completely subsided. I wouldn’t expect any additional pain down the road if you are not experiencing any now. From my experience, I also felt not necessarily pain, but pressure at the temple area, which still continues today occasionally. Hang in there!
Thanks for your post. I am looking forward to a great ride of recovering experience!! Thank you!! <3
I was so happy to finally find someone else that is a recent craniotomy patient. I am almost 8 weeks out now from my surgery date. I’m a 72-year-old formally very active female. My aneurysm was discovered by accident and obviously was not ruptured. I would love to talk to you more perhaps via private message because it sounds like we have a lot in common as I’m reading all these previous stories I’m thinking how incredibly blessed I am! After reading so many other posts, I’ve had no jaw pain and I certainly don’t think I have any dents in my temple. How can I send you my private message?
Well it was a good try Amy but it was blocked out. When I hit reply, can you view my email address? If not I will reply tomorrow to the main topic area. In bed now…I still get fatigued! Diane
Sorry that the system must be protecting us! I believe you can safely ask anything in this area? I know some might be personal to you. Currently, I am facing something new to me as well. I traveled to Boston now. The new / bad / cold weather has not been good to my pains.
Hello there pchefdi. To send a private message to another member, click on their avatar. Up pops a box with the member’s profile, but also a blue ‘message’ option at the top right. Click on that and you will then get a message box.
When you’ve written your message, click ‘message’ at the bottom left to send it. To find your messages, go to your own avatar at the top right of any page, your messages can be found when you click on the envelope symbol.
Hope this helps,
Christina from Moderator Support
I tried it… but the system forced me to enter a subject… this is kind of interesting.
thanks for the tips. I’m trying to send her a private message and hope it’ll work.
The subject line, bibewelove, is simply the subject line for your private message. You know it is a private message because of two things:
Seenie