Can My Shrunken Temporal Muscle Be Lifted Back In Place?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I had a cranioplasty on August 2012 after having a craniotomy in June.  A of now I have temporal wasting of the muscle on my right side and a serious indention where the muscle should be. My neurosurgeon says thats because the temporal muscle has fallen down and is being clinched in a spot right above my ear.  Is there anything we can do for the muscle, to try and get it back to where it was preinjury?

A: What you now have is a combination of temporal muscle atrophy and shrinking as a result of the muscle losing its superior attachments. At this point the muscle is one shrunken scarred mass and there is no stretching it back out and resuspending it. The muscle is now forever shortened and scarred. So trying to move the muscle back up will never work. The correction of the temporal defect will now require the use of a temporal implant to fill the defect.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana