Horner's syndrome after cervical fusion - Spinal Cord Disorders Message Board

Mollyt61 · 09-10-2004, 07:05 PM

I had a c5-c-6 fusion 4 years ago, everything went great, now 4 years later i had a slipped disk c6-c7, once again i underwent surgery a week ago, this time the old plate was removed because of broken screws, and c6-c7 were fused with a BAK device. the day after surgery i woke up and my left eye seemed droopy, now i was diagnosed with horner's syndrome, does any one has that happen too? and will it go away?? I am very frusterated about this. I need some advice please, or any kind of info ,thx

feelbad · 09-11-2004, 07:35 AM

Hi, i ended up with horners syndrome after a surgery done on the inside of my spinal cord to remove what was basically a glob of blood vessels.It is caused by direct damage to the sympathetic nervous system.I am still wondering just how they managed to damage that.the sympathetic chain actually runs along the outside,and kind of along the sides of the vertebraes in your spinal column.i really am rather suprised that horners dosen't happen much more frequently than it does as there are so many people who have had fusions and laminectomies,you would think that since it runs along the outside the vertebrae,that it would get injured much more often.I had never even heard of horners before i was Dxed with it in the rehab hosp I was transferred to after spending two weeks in the actual hospital where i had had the surgery.I went to brush my teeth one night,it was day two in rehab, when i noticed that something just wasn't 'right"with my eyes.when i lookled closer,I noticed that the R pupil looked "blown' and the L one was very tiny.i thought at first that I was having a stroke or leaking csf fluid from the surgical area inside my spinal cord.Freaked the heck out of me!!i was told by my physiatrist that it was from nerve damage.i didn't find out just what nerve damage was causing it until I was able to come home and actually do some research.

The pupil is back to normal now,and I still have real slight drooping of my eyelid(was very pronounced before)that is really only noticable when i am really tired.i am having more problems with the main SNS damage than anything else.I also have damaged spinal tracts and many spinal nerves are damaged and causing many impairments,problems and pain syndromes.i would think that the droopyness ahould be completely gone,or close to it in just a matter of months.The horners syndrome itself I think is actually a pretty benign type of syndrome.No major problems that i have encountered or read about while doing the research on it.I really don't think you have to worry about it.I know,i don't.I have way too many other things that need my attention at this point.Good luck,Marcia

Mollyt61 · 09-11-2004, 08:42 AM

Thanks for the info, i guess I will just have to give some time, after all , i just had the surgery a week ago. The info was really good, and gives me some hope, Thanks

feelbad · 09-12-2004, 07:09 AM

No problem.Hope everything heals well for you.Marcia

Mollyt61 · 09-12-2004, 11:08 AM

Hi Marcia
Thanks for your infos, you really had a lot of stuff going, sorry, hope you are doing ok. How long did it really took for you to notice an improvement with your droopy eye? I have noticed that over the last couple of days my eye is kind of teeter tater between droopy and almost ok, it also has affect my vision in my affected eye, I used to be a 20/15 and now I was tested 20/40 in that eye. One other thing makes me a bit nervous is the tingeling in my left arm seems to come back, not as bad as prior to the surgery. The one thing that is absolutely eliminated is the shooting pain into my armpitt and left arm, now I am dealing with a bit of stiffness which I still consider normal since my surgical area (front) is still numb and swollen. Martina