Before surgery my facial bones were not especially prominent, but my first concern was my square jaw, and my second was that my lower face looked long because my jawline was long.
I also tried various lifting procedures, but they had zero effect on the square jaw or the length of my face? I am not blaming lifting, but this was entirely a bone issue of mine..
When I was looking into contouring, I first thought I would just have the square jaw and chin reduced, so I went around for consultations, but every clinic said the same thing.
1. If only the square jaw and chin are reduced, the lower face may become shorter but the cheekbones can stand out more. 2. I also have 45-degree cheekbones, so if only the lower part is refined, the midface can look wider.
That may vary from person to person, but contouring is not a small surgery, so I went through consultations at about five places, and I felt that if everyone said the same thing, there must be a reason. Thinking about it, even though it was not a part that bothered me hugely in terms of overall balance, when I took photos from the side my cheekbones tended to stand out a little, so I decided I should go with a three-part contouring procedure.
I chose the clinic mainly by comparing kindness, then consultation detail, safety systems, and aftercare. The reason I paid so much attention to kindness was that I thought if the consultation itself was rude, then if a problem happened later, or when they were checking my progress and providing care after surgery, they would probably just brush it off carelessly..
Anyway, they looked very carefully at my CT, including things like the position of the nerves and bone structure, and the two biggest points that really won me over in the clinic system were: 1. On the day of surgery, one guardian can monitor in real time (via tablet). 2. Customized aftercare.
It is said that contouring can take more than half a year to settle, but for me the concerns I had about the square jaw and the lower face looking long were completely gone even before then, and I could already see that my face looked smaller and the overall line was smoother, so I was satisfied earlier than most people.
Before surgery, my face shape gave off a bit of a masculine impression, so I did not even pay much attention to styling, and I always kept my hair short for a more tomboyish look. But after surgery, my self-esteem went up a lot, so I got hair extensions, started wearing more feminine clothes that I had not worn since middle and high school, and I even wear skirts now. lol