Will Temporal Reduction Surgery Work For Me?

Q: Dr. Eppley,’ve been looking at your temporal muscle reduction cases and blogs for a while, and I just have a few questions.

Whenever I have my bike helmet on, there’s pressure on both sides of my head. I tried different helmet sizes, but didn’t notice any difference. The pressure goes away when I open my mouth. From what I’ve read, it’s “seeing head width improvement when opening your mouth is due to the thinning of your temporal muscles on the side of your head. They lengthen and narrow when opening one’s mouth widely.”

The pressure occurs around the area you marked in your March 11, 2022 blog.

https://exploreplasticsurgery.com/plastic-surgery-case-study-temporal-muscle-reduction-transposition-for-side-of-head-bulging-and-temporal-based-headaches/

1. Do you think temporal muscle reduction is a good permanent solution for me? No temporary solutions like Botox.

2. Will removing the muscle create a dip or curve in the supraorbital foramen area?

3. As for pricing, do you have a rough estimate for this whole procedure? Including operating room, anesthesia, etc., costs?

4. Is this something that can be done in your clinic or a hospital? Is an overnight stay needed?

I’ve attached pictures of my face.

A:Thank you for your inquiry and sending your pictures. Everything that you are describing as well as your pictures does substantiate that removal of the posterior temporal muscle mass would provide improvement both symptomatically as well as aesthetically. In answer to your questions:

1) As per my initial description, yes.

2) The supra orbital area is the brow bone and not the temporal area so no change will occur there.

3) Will be provided to you in a  subsequent email.

4) this type of surgery is done and my private outpatient surgery center…. which is neither my office or a hospital.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Plastic Surgeon