in defense, (not that I'm feeling attacked, rather to clarify what I said earler) my recollection of my doctors comments were
"there were no absolutes and that each surgury was unique, drooping lips, cheeks, etc. were usually the result of errors during dissection.

He said that it was rather common given the concentration of nerves and nerve bundles in the area, and that sometimes it was really hard to avoid."

I didn't suggest or imply that this was always the case, rather that it often was.

As it happened, I had an appointment this morning with the same surgeon for a check-up. My recollection of his comments was fairly accurate.

While he did restate that there were specific circumstances where facial nerves had to be severed and/or removed, in his experience there were more instances of nerve damage from radiation than there were from surgial necessity.

I don't think we're really stating contrary opinions...

As for making "fish lips", yup, I sure can. I was asked the same thing several times during my stay in hospital. I have numbness to both sides of my incision as well, but the movement in my lip and face is not impaired. I find that it lags a bit being insensate, but when I'm looking in a mirror, it reacts exactly the same as the unaffected side.

I'm hoping that the fact that I had IMRT radiation will minimize any "surprises" down the line, but who knows?

Wayne