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soulfilet · 05-01-2008, 03:41 PM

I too saw Dr. Simon McGrail recently, also for a stretched upper lip muscle. He said it's not so bad that I have to stop playing, though I'm taking a few days off now and then, to give the muscle a chance to heal. I'm practicing more or less the same as usual, only I'm not as ambitious with high range and high volume. Whether I'm practicing or playing a gig, if there's any discomfort I back off.

I'm doing Simon McGrail's lip exercises.... they're pretty strenuous, I haven't gotten through a set of 10 yet. I won't do them if I have a gig on the same day, too tiring. No doubt they're great for strengthening the chops, so I plan to keep doing them after the stretched muscle clears up.

Dr. McGrail contributed to the book Broken Embouchures by Lucinda Lewis, including information on a stretched lip muscle. If you Google "Broken Embouchures" you'll find excerpts.

Years ago McGrail fixed a tear in my upper lip muscle, which happened between the edge of the mouthpiece and the edge of my teeth. I sat on a stool while he did it, and he used a local anesthetic. He made the incision right on the line between the red and the white skin. Then he found the severed muscle strands and joined them with suture which eventually dissolved as the muscle healed. I was playing the horn again after about 6 weeks, and it took a few months of practicing to get back in shape. It didn't feel quite the same, but overall my chops were good. I found flexibility exercises and shakes to be more difficult than before the surgery, so they took longer to get back than other aspects. It's been 6 years and the scar is almost invisible, no one sees it if I don't point it out. When he examined my chops recently, he said my upper lip (orbicularis oris) was in great shape, other than the stretched part, which is on the bottom side of the lip where it vibrates against the lower lip.

J. Simon McGrail, the guru of injured brass players, is the only plastic surgeon I know of who does surgery on lip injuries. He's also famous for working with vocalists. For anyone who needs to see Dr. McGrail, he's still practicing in Toronto Canada. His new clinic is at 658 Danforth Ave, #102, Toronto ON, M4J 5B9, 647-428-7088.

Apparently he's one of a kind, which is unfortunate. Years ago there was Dr. Planas in Spain, who was apparently the first one to operate on a brass player's lip, and it was apparently successful. He called the condition Sachmo's Syndrome. The Planas Clinic is still in Barcelona, but Dr. Planas is no longer alive, so I don't know if anyone there does the procedure. Their website is in Spanish, but there's a full description of his first patient here in English:

<http://www.clinicaplanas.com/fundacion/articulos/articulo8/articulo8.htm>

Besides McGrail, has anybody heard of anyone else, anywhere, who does reconstructive surgery on injured chops?

By the way utu, how is your stretched lip doing now?

05-01-2008, 03:41 PM	#4 (permalink)
soulfilet New Friend Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 6	Re: lip injury I too saw Dr. Simon McGrail recently, also for a stretched upper lip muscle. He said it's not so bad that I have to stop playing, though I'm taking a few days off now and then, to give the muscle a chance to heal. I'm practicing more or less the same as usual, only I'm not as ambitious with high range and high volume. Whether I'm practicing or playing a gig, if there's any discomfort I back off. I'm doing Simon McGrail's lip exercises.... they're pretty strenuous, I haven't gotten through a set of 10 yet. I won't do them if I have a gig on the same day, too tiring. No doubt they're great for strengthening the chops, so I plan to keep doing them after the stretched muscle clears up. Dr. McGrail contributed to the book Broken Embouchures by Lucinda Lewis, including information on a stretched lip muscle. If you Google "Broken Embouchures" you'll find excerpts. Years ago McGrail fixed a tear in my upper lip muscle, which happened between the edge of the mouthpiece and the edge of my teeth. I sat on a stool while he did it, and he used a local anesthetic. He made the incision right on the line between the red and the white skin. Then he found the severed muscle strands and joined them with suture which eventually dissolved as the muscle healed. I was playing the horn again after about 6 weeks, and it took a few months of practicing to get back in shape. It didn't feel quite the same, but overall my chops were good. I found flexibility exercises and shakes to be more difficult than before the surgery, so they took longer to get back than other aspects. It's been 6 years and the scar is almost invisible, no one sees it if I don't point it out. When he examined my chops recently, he said my upper lip (orbicularis oris) was in great shape, other than the stretched part, which is on the bottom side of the lip where it vibrates against the lower lip. J. Simon McGrail, the guru of injured brass players, is the only plastic surgeon I know of who does surgery on lip injuries. He's also famous for working with vocalists. For anyone who needs to see Dr. McGrail, he's still practicing in Toronto Canada. His new clinic is at 658 Danforth Ave, #102, Toronto ON, M4J 5B9, 647-428-7088. Apparently he's one of a kind, which is unfortunate. Years ago there was Dr. Planas in Spain, who was apparently the first one to operate on a brass player's lip, and it was apparently successful. He called the condition Sachmo's Syndrome. The Planas Clinic is still in Barcelona, but Dr. Planas is no longer alive, so I don't know if anyone there does the procedure. Their website is in Spanish, but there's a full description of his first patient here in English: <http://www.clinicaplanas.com/fundacion/articulos/articulo8/articulo8.htm> Besides McGrail, has anybody heard of anyone else, anywhere, who does reconstructive surgery on injured chops? By the way utu, how is your stretched lip doing now?