Centennial Lakes Medical Center

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With my team of caregivers, I strive to provide informed, compassionate and meticulous care to those who entrust us with providing care for their problems and concerns. My goal is to provide outcomes that are helpful to those we serve and to protect their dignity, privacy and safety.

The menu lists below provide information on services and procedures we provide. Please explore the drop down menus immediately below and you will find information and details that should be useful when considering Plastic Surgery.

Facial Nerve Paralysis
The facial nerve is the primary nerve that supplies facial expressions. One’s patterns of facial expressions are created based on thought patterns and the expression then created by transmitting impulses to the Facial Nerve and finally to the muscles that contract to create the desired facial expression. The connection point where the nerve transmits the message to the muscle is called the synapse. The point where the synapse contacts the facial muscles is referred to as an end plate. The muscle’s end plate is a crucial structure. The end plate’s role is crucial to muscle movement and when the nerve is disconnected from this structure because of injury time become a crucial factor. If a facial nerve injury occurs from brain tumor removal, facial trauma, Bell’s palsy its impact on facial expression, appearance, esteem and self confidence can be profound. If recovery from an injured facial nerve has not occurred within 4-6 months following injury to the nerve, consultation for nerve reconstruction should be obtained. Repair often involves using other nerves located around the face or neck (cross face grafts, hypoglossal, spinal accessory, masseter) to restore nerve signals to the facial muscles. Fortunately facial nerve injuries are not common but when they do occur surgical intervention is usually necessary if the nerve has not shown signs of recovery by 4-6 months after the loss of nerve function occurred. If circumstances are present that interferes with early repair, more complex and methods of reconstruction are available. Remember consultation to consider reconstruction to preserve muscle function on the paralyzed side of the face needs to be considered at 3-4 months after the facial muscles have stopped functioning.

This video clip portrays one of my recent mission trips!

PLASTIC SURGERY SPECIALISTS
Centennial Lake Park 7373 France Ave. South, Edina, MN 55435