Mine Turned Out Not To Be A Mucocele / 6 Week Update

Actually was a "thrombosed hemangioma". Which I gather is a pool of blood that congeals and does not get re-absorbed, but I'm no doctor. All I know is that darned lab made me wait forever to find out! Either way - the surgery was the same.

That said, I wanted to give a six-week update on my surgery.

Visually, you can't hardly see anything, unless I contort my lip in an exagerrated smile or make that face we men make when we have to shave just underneath it.

I can feel the vertical scar, and it's still a little sensitive, and a little numb, and if I bang it accidentally, it hurts. I have been told the sensitivity/numbness could last 6 months or more.

According to my plastic surgeon, I have just passed the 42-48 days mark where the internal dissolvable stitches should all have dissolved, which feels right. What feels like a scar should actually smooth out and soften. The last "trauma" to the area just ended with the stitches dissolving, so my cells can get busy getting back to normal, so to speak.

I'm hopeful, but also realistic. While I would love to have everything be back the way it used to be, I'm prepared for a semi-permanent loss of some mobility/feeling/etc. I'm also thankful my surgeon didn't botch it and require me to have more surgery. Sorry, Ackhelp, and others in your position.

My advice to anyone who finds this site BEFORE seeing a doctor is to get to one as soon as possible. Insurance should cover it and the sooner you get it done, the better. The longer you wait, the bigger it can get and the more picking, poking etc., you'll probably do to it, which can also end up complicating your eventual surgery. (Although the site is a sanity-saver for most of us who get here AFTER we see the doctor, too.)

Good luck to everyone, and again, have a PLASTIC surgeon do the actual procedure if possible (ESPECIALLY if your mucocele is visible with a closed mouth). All the usual types of doctors are "capable" of doing the surgery - but the plastic surgeon will have the greatest incentive to make sure you look good afterwards.