newbie here, mucocele removal Monday

Thanks for sharing your story. It's good to hear those numbers that your doctor mentioned on the incidence of cancer, and I know many people have been curious about the price of the surgery. I think mine was something like $500 before the insurance kicked in, maybe yours is higher because of the extra anasthesia.

Let us know how it goes!

I'm American but I live in Paris. God we ARE lucky with health insurance! If I paid out of my pocket the whole thing would have cost $250 (much less than in the US it seems), but in fact all including the medecines are 100% covered by our health insurance.

The bad picture is that 40% of our salaries are taken out for these social services.

In any case I wish you the best with your surgery.

Good advice - stay away from the medical sites, it gave me the "heeby-jeebies"...

Thank You All for the well wishes!!

The breakdown on the cost for the procedure was this (my math was not the best, the actual cost is $1247). $300 for Dr's consultation and for the Dr to perform the surgery; $300 for anesthesia; and $647 for the surgery center fee; all together $1247;) **thank you Mastercard lol** I am not going to a regular hospital, they call it a "surgery center", never been to one before and this one is an hour away.

Yes, I had health insurance until last summer, and I didn't realize how much of a benefit it is, as well as a peace of mind, until I no longer had it. :(

Thank You All again, and I will write back tomorrow night and let you know how things went.

Had the mucocele removal procedure done today. I had iv anesthesia, and did not feel a thing during the procedure.

It was a big mucocele though (I had thought it was 2 of them he did not mention it though), so they cut (and then stitched) down the inside of my lip and also along my lower jaw line inside my mouth. That is the part that hurts, have been using ice and took the pain pills but still in major pain because of those lower jawline stitches.

The dr said some of the larger mucoceles have to be removed partly from the outside (they would go in through your face to get part of it), they thought they were going to have to with this one but they did not (**thank goodness**), they were able to get it all from the inside of my mouth.

My honest opinion is (pain is the part I was worried about beforehand), I did not feel a thing during the procedure itself, but afterwards, the pain has been pretty bad. I don't want to scare anyone, but I am being honest. I will write back in a few days and let you know how the recovery goes.

I didn't feel a thing during my procedure, but I also had some pain afterwards. Yours, however, sounds like a pretty severe case. Rest up!

Went back to the dr, he said it was not cancerous (YAY!!), that is a big relief. The pain is much better, almost gone except when I go to eat. I do have some numbness in my lip, though.

The dr had recommended that next week I take lotion and "massage" my lip with it 4-5 times per day for the next several weeks. He said this helps so that you do not develop a big lump of scar tissue in your lip.

The lotion idea sounds interesting, as I did develop a little lump of scar tissue on the inside of my lip. Do you put the lotion on the inside of your lip?

I have been, I only use a small amount, though.

I do think the message board here and the original 'lump in mouth' site are quite misleading.

I got the impression that the operation seems to be the most straightforward procedure ever - but it's not....

Unfortunately for me, my stiches (disposable type) opened up early, and blood was spurting out of my mouth from the labial artery that runs through the lip. I had to go to what we call the 'accident and emergency' in the UK to get my lip sewn up straight away with another 3 stiches.

In light of this (not including my emergency return to get another 3 stiches in), I think this site here, needs a section or sticky post on aftercare.

It's not a simple case of quick surgery, out the door, life is back to normal in days. The lip is cut into, and afterwards you are left with a scar, and scar tissue that need will need massage for weeks afterwards if you don't want there to be permanent scar tissue in your lip.

I'm not even sure if you can get rid of it all - how has yours fared 'theirmom99', has the scar tissue dissapeared completely?

Also, my maxillofacial surgeon was a bit crap and decided to cut more of my lip open than he should, and it looks very slightly thinner at one end now, 5 weeks post op.

All in all, i'm slightly dissapointed - but that mucocele was a pain - so what else could I do.

I also was left with annoying scar tissue after my mucocele removal. At my pre-op consultation I was told I would be given a stitch...which turned out to be six stitches. I did some massaging, but it is tough to keep up. I went for a second opinion to another oral surgeon and was told to keep massaging and the scar tissue should still resolve itself. My mucocele was removed last January. Me dentist thinks I should leave the scar tissue alone, but the surgeon is willing to laser it. Dave, you also mentioned scar tissue...is yours still there?

Hey VA, sorry your surgery wasn't as simple as it sounds. You certainly had a unique experience though. I'll do some research on aftercare and put something in the FAQ, so thanks for the suggestion. I had some scar tissue at first, but now (almost two years later) it's tough to tell it ever happened.

[quote=Marais]I'm American but I live in Paris. God we ARE lucky with health insurance! If I paid out of my pocket the whole thing would have cost $250 (much less than in the US it seems), but in fact all including the medecines are 100% covered by our health insurance.

The bad picture is that 40% of our salaries are taken out for these social services.

In any case I wish you the best with your surgery.

Good advice - stay away from the medical sites, it gave me the "heeby-jeebies"...[/quote]
HAH! Lucky? Here In NY I found a Dr nice enough to do TWO Surgeries (One was the result of a misdiagnosis from another Dr and I came in in an emergency and told him to wack it off!!!) and several check ups for 100 dollars and a bunch of cookies!!!!!!