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Sunflower, Ginni has brought up the only reasons I would know that might cause the changes you see.

Pain, stress, no sleep, medications (sometimes) and weight loss can show up in our faces.

In the past, we've had a lot of people report changes to their face including me, but we all had altering surgeries or extreme & usually, inappropriate treatment.

There was one lady from England a a few years ago who had some dramatic changes to her face but she was on a waiting list for implants. Whatever treatment she had prior to needing implants had failed terribly.

I saw your post yesterday and did the same as you. I looked everywhere for any reference to facial changes caused just by TMJ and couldn't find anything. I used every search term I could think of.

Everything I found refered to multiple & post surgical or radical treatments.

As Ginni says, "PAIN" can make you look tired and weary. It can make your face look a tiny bit longer due to how we feel showing in our faces, but I can not find anything about fat or firmness loss as you described without some type of alteration.

Unless you've had some weight loss, it might be a good idea to check with a doctor.

Those of us with TMJD have sometimes let other things go thinking a new symptom was TMJ related. We've found out, it may not always be TMJ related.

Cymy Sue

I can think of a few other possibilities due to seeing every kind of doctor known to man in the last 30+ years and asking thousands of questions.

As you go from Oral Surgeons, to neurologists, physical therapists, rheumatologists, pain specialist, chiropractors, accupunturists, massage therapists and doctors in general asking questions and not getting many answers......also reading everything you can find , you pick up a lot of opinions and occasionally some helpful information. Sometimes, something one of them says makes sense.........or you connect a series of opinions and make sense of it yourself......until the next doctor laughs at what you've told him.

I will say this. If they know any more than we are finding, they aren't telling.
TMJ is big business & big money.

I'm sure more people than you most likely have this problem. It's likely they have had some type of procedure or treatment and accept it as "the way it is". I did.

Possibly there are those who did what I did....I stumbled on a couple of things that helped me get out of incredible pain and also helped quite a bit of the damage that had been done to my face.



You have limited range of motion. 30mm in not bad and that's what I have now, but I lived with 10-15mm for years. 30 seems great for me.
However, at 30mm you're not using the muscles in your face at full capacity.

Even though you don't have pain, it's possible that you have muscle tension or muscle spasms. I don't mean the kind that start after an injury and you know you're hurt.

The muscles will tighten or splint up around a damaged joint (over time) and stay that way. They will do this in any part of the body. It's called muscle compensation or muscle splinting. In most cases, they over compensate and this causes constant pain. I wouldn't know if you have this, but most people with a dysfunctional joint or joints do have it happening. The muscles are protecting what they perceive as an injury.

If they're splinting, they are usually enlarged, tight and hard. When they are in this condition, in many cases they can compress blood vessels and cause less blood flow to the face and in some cases, they compress nerves and cause pain or numbness.

So it's possible that you aren't using the muscles around the joint or both joints as they should be used and not using them to full capacity.
It's also possible the blood supply is restricted.

If you are not getting adequate blood and oxygen to every cell of your body, they start to break down. Collagen breaks down very quickly if it's not nourished.

You have described the *aging process. But, what should take years, has happened very quickly.

I would still check with a doctor, dermatologist, etc. If they don't find any illness that would cause this, then would be the time to decide what to do.

Everyone tries something different and we all know, "What works for one does not always work for someone else. "


I had incredible results with therapeutic massage. She was an extraordinary therapist and knew as much about TMJ and muscles as anyone I have ever met. My face was a mess when I started going to her for pain. I had no idea or hope my face would ever look better or change back to the way it was before. It did. She did so much to get the process of over 20 years of muscle trauma undone......next came a tiny thin splint that let the muscles relax passively and over a few months, my face looked close to normal again. Oh, and the pain went away. Something I was told would never happen.
Also, a lot of the work she did, I learned to do and still do it occasionally.
I know suggesting muscle work for your problem may sound weird, but it worked for me and has for others I know.
I know personally that muscle work will change what the muscles are doing and allow the circulation to improve. I also know that your face can change dramatically with a little help.

Also, I'm sure you know, what you eat and drink has a huge impact on your face and skin.

Cymy Sue




*Natural Aging:
Starting in our 20s, the skin begins to slowly and steadily age. Dead skin cells are not replaced as quickly, collagen production slows and our skin loses elasticity. Signs of this type of aging include:

fine wrinkles
thinner skin
a 'hollow' look due to loss of fat below the skin
sagging skin, due to bone shrinkage
dry, itchy skin

http://longevity.about.co...ngbeauty/p/skin_aging.htm

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