Day 2 (1 day after)
As soon as it hit 12, I drank water and went to sleep. I kept checking my mouth in between, and even though I say I slept, I didn't fall into a deep sleep. My throat hurt like crazy, so I kept going back and forth by myself to get water. I could go to the bathroom by myself too.
When I woke up, they told me I could be discharged. At this time, if you don't have a guardian with you, you really have to stay alert and listen carefully. Luckily, even though I was out of it, I think my survival instinct kicked in and I heard everything I needed to hear. After discharge, on the way back to the accommodation, I did some grocery shopping too. At that time, saliva was seriously dripping all over my outerwear, so I wondered if I was overdoing it by shopping, but buying groceries then turned out to be seriously the move of God.
* Tiny mask tip: Since you can't wear a mask because of the facial compression band, cut the mask strings and attach it to your face with paper tape.
After getting back to the accommodation, I think I woke up once every hour all night. My throat was dry as a desert, seriously so bad, and no matter how much water I drank, the dryness didn't go away. My face seemed to be swelling more and more, and I just tried somehow to sleep. I was dizzy and had a headache, so I couldn't even use my phone. I just kicked the blanket over and over and was in so much pain.
Day 3 (2 days after) The day swelling was the worst
I couldn't sleep at all, so I thought about walking to the hospital, but gave up when I saw it would take 1 hour and 30 minutes. If I hadn't given up, I would have been screwed. From this point, my eyes started to become really hard to see. I was drooling like an actual bulldog, to the point my outerwear was soaked with saliva. I didn't know I could love towels this much, but I got so attached to my towel. Towels are seriously万能. I went to the hospital, got an X-ray taken (I almost couldn't, but I didn't want to come again, so I did it), had the cotton removed from my nose, got swelling injections, and they empathized with me, saying it would get better now and asking if it had been very hard, and I was so grateful. They said swelling won't go down if I keep the facial compression band on too much, but I said I had no one to help me and thought it would be hard to take it off and put it back on, so they showed me again. The compression band was nothing much. I was scared for no reason. Then I went back again while drooling everywhere.
Whenever I came to my senses, I searched facial contouring swelling on YouTube like crazy, but I felt like mine was the worst, so I was extremely stressed;; I felt anxious, like why am I being put through this trial, and it felt like depression was coming on. I was alone away from home and even taking care of myself was overwhelming, but on top of that I had even more damn swelling, my back was injured so it was hard to lie down for long, and if I sat up my head hurt. Rather than just hurting, it was suffering + being sensitive, and I think I understood why people call it hell. Time passed disgustingly slowly, and I was so bored but had no room to be bored? I'd look at my phone, then get too tired and stop, but if I didn't look at it, there was nothing to do. I think I just tried somehow to sleep. I'd sleep for an hour, wake up and do cold compresses, then sleep again, then freeze the cold packs again, repeating that.
I'm on Day 7 now, and those were the most hellish moments during recovery from facial contouring surgery. I painfully realized that plastic surgery should absolutely not be taken lightly. Words can't fully capture the pain of every single moment, but people say the first 4 days after surgery are hellish, and I understood why hell is called hell. My face shape had been a complex my whole life, and I had thought about surgery for more than 10 years before deciding, yet I regretted the surgery for a moment.
In conclusion, I don't regret the surgery. I haven't even seen the result yet. But if you ask whether I could do it one more time, I don't think I could ^^.. The pain after surgery and everything else will vary by person, but I really hope you prepare yourself mentally and make the decision carefully. I didn't know I would have such a hard time either.
I had surgery trusting only YouTube videos, then struggled because I felt like only my swelling was severe and only my pain was severe. But thanks to everyone's posts here, I was able to calm myself down. I hope this becomes a comforting post for someone suffering ㅜㅜ You're not the only one in pain.
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