Comprehensive 1-Year Review of Double Jaw Surgery for Malocclusion

Hello, it has already been 1 year since I had double jaw surgery and contouring surgery of 2 types (square jaw, chin). Before surgery, I had functional discomfort caused by malocclusion, but more than anything, I had a strong complex about the lower part of my face. Because the lower face was prominent, people often said my overall impression looked strong and blunt, and I was sometimes misunderstood as looking angry or cold even when I was doing nothing. Every time I took photos, I worried about my face shape, and even when I smiled or talked, I often found myself being conscious of my jaw and the area around my mouth instead of acting naturally. I had many concerns before deciding on surgery. I heard many stories that double jaw surgery is not easy to recover from, and I was also scared simply because it involves surgery on the facial bones. I had worries about whether the results would look natural, whether the sensation would fully return, and when I would be able to return to daily life. I spent about 1 year in pre-surgical orthodontic treatment to prepare, so it took a lot of time and energy, but I decided to have surgery at Y Oral Surgery to resolve the long-standing concerns I had about my malocclusion and face shape. Right after surgery, as expected, there was a lot of swelling, and it was difficult to move my mouth freely or eat as usual. In the early stage, I mainly ate soft foods and liquid meals, and I had to pay close attention to brushing my teeth and oral care. The area around my face and lips also sometimes felt numb, and while sensation was returning, I would sometimes feel itching or a slight tingling around my jaw. As time passed, the foods I could eat increased little by little. Around the 2-month mark, I started carefully eating gimbap, eggplant rice bowl, and cut-up pork cutlet, excluding hard ingredients like carrots or pickled radish. The major swelling had gone down a lot, but there was still some residual swelling around my cheeks and jaw, and I was still wearing elastic bands to align my bite. The sensation in the center of my chin and the right side returned more slowly than on the left, so at the time I was somewhat worried about sensory recovery. By around 3 months, I was able to eat almost any food without much restriction, and gimbap became easier to eat than before. As daily life became much less inconvenient, there were many moments when I even forgot that I had surgery. The left side, based on the center of my lips, had recovered a great deal of sensation, and the right side felt a little slower, but it gradually improved over time. At the 5-month checkup, my molar bite had stabilized, so I stopped wearing the elastics that connected my upper and lower jaws. When I was freed from the elastics that I had to wear almost all the time except during meals, it felt like I had crossed a major stage in recovery. At the 6-month checkup, I was told that the surgically treated bones had also fused well, and most of my sensation had returned to normal. There were no major problems with eating or pronunciation, and life after surgery began to settle in as ordinary daily life rather than a special recovery period. And now, 1 year after surgery, orthodontic treatment is also completely finished, so the braces have been removed and I am only wearing retainers. Once the braces that had been attached for so long were removed, I really felt that the entire treatment process, including surgery and orthodontics, had finally come to an end. Right now, I feel there is essentially no inconvenience at all in daily life, whether I am eating, speaking, or smiling. The problems I worried about before surgery, such as sensation, pronunciation, and eating, are now hardly noticeable at all. The biggest change after surgery is my overall facial impression. Compared with before surgery, my impression has softened so much that I feel like a different person. Before, people often said I looked blunt or strong, but now I hear much more often that I look gentle, cute, and younger. As the center of my face and jawline became more refined, even when I am not making an expression, my face seems much more relaxed. I was worried at first that my face would feel awkward after surgery, but as time passed and the swelling went down, my facial lines gradually became more natural. Especially after about 1 year, I can feel that not only the major swelling but also the lingering residual swelling has almost completely gone. That said, separate from swelling going down, I personally think that maintaining facial elasticity, skin, and soft tissue still requires steady care. In the early stage after surgery, I checked the swelling and sensory changes day by day and waited to see when I would fully recover, but looking back now, recovery did not happen all at once; it progressed little by little in a natural way. As 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months passed, the foods I could eat and the things I could do kept increasing, and after 6 months, there were more days when I lived without thinking about the surgery at all. Now that 1 year has passed, I am more satisfied with the improved impression and the more comfortable daily life that the surgery gave me than with any discomfort after surgery. Back when I was considering surgery, I could not easily imagine what I would look like 1 year later, but now it feels strange in a good way that I have even had the braces removed and am living without discomfort. I am satisfied with my current natural and softened appearance, and as time goes by, my feeling that I made the right decision to have the surgery keeps growing.