Beauty Doc Blog

Temporalis tendon transfer is an advancement in plastic surgery that brings facial animation back to patients that have lost it due to facial paralysis. According to a report in the JAMA Archives Journal, “The rehabilitation of facial paralysis is one of the greatest challenges faced by reconstructive surgeons today…It is an unfortunate fact that there is no ideal procedure that leads to the return of fully normal facial function. Furthermore, every case of facial paralysis is different in the cause of the paralysis, the degree and location of the paralysis and the resulting condition of the facial musculature and surrounding soft tissue envelope.” A large number of patients however have had positive results from the procedure of temporalis tendon transfer. This involves multiple types of procedures performed on those patients who have excessive movement in portions of the face and no movement in other areas.

A recent report covering the treatment of several paralysis patients with this technique outlines how an incision is made beginning at the ear and ending three or four centimeters into the hairline at the temple of the patient. The temporalis muscle, a muscle shaped line a fan on the side of the head, is cut where it connects to the jawbone, and therefore released from the surrounding tissue. It is then stretched to the point   where  muscles of the mouth join together. The tendon that connected the temporalis muscle to the patient’s  jawbone is cut free and is then stretched horizontally for three to four  centimeters and is then  sutured to the surrounding muscles and deep skin tissue. Physical therapy is performed to retrain facial muscles after the surgery and will continue for seven days after the procedure is performed.

According to the report patients were pleased four months after the surgery. The patients in fact rated the accomplishment of the surgery as very high in all areas, and physicians from the hospital were the tests were performed all indicated after looking at photographs that the patients seemed improved.

In the patients the position of the muscles when at rest is measured, and again when the patient contracts just the temporalis muscle. Movement in all patients is increased. The result is that is relatively simple procedure will help many patients who have suffered from facial paralysis, brining animation back to formerly non-moving faces..