It's already been 3 months since my double jaw surgery. Before the surgery, I thought I'd recover quickly just by letting time pass, but after going through it myself, it was not as easy as I expected.
Right after the surgery, my face was very swollen, and every time I looked in the mirror I kept thinking maybe I'd ruined everything. I was also worried because my swelling seemed to go down more slowly than in the reviews I saw online, and not being able to eat normally was really hard. The bruising disappeared faster than I expected, but I learned firsthand that swelling does not go away overnight.
Still, as time passed, I started to see gradual changes. Since I walked every day and kept up with recovery care consistently, at some point the swelling visibly went down. My mouth also opened much better than before, and as I was able to eat a little at a time, I thought, 'I'm really recovering now.'
Now that it's been 3 months, the swelling seems almost completely gone and my face has become much more natural. Before, the swelling made my face feel awkward, but now my facial line seems to have settled, and every time I look in the mirror I think I was right to have the surgery. I can eat most foods without discomfort, and daily life is not very inconvenient either.
Above all, I felt good because people around me kept saying my face looked much better. Since I look in the mirror every day, I didn't notice a huge change, but when people I hadn't seen in a while told me first that my face looked much better, I felt like all my worries had been unnecessary.
It took me a long time to decide on double jaw surgery, and the recovery process after the surgery was not easy, but I think the saying that time solves things is true. At first I was anxious and briefly regretted it, but now I am living with satisfaction.
If you're considering the surgery, I hope you won't get too impatient because of the early swelling. Recovery speed differs from person to person, but if you keep managing it consistently, you can see it getting better little by little.
I had my surgery with Dr. Shin Hee-jin at Iyou Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and from the pre-op consultation through the post-op follow-ups, they took such careful care that I could trust the process throughout recovery. They also said it would continue to look a little more natural over time, so I'm looking forward to the changes ahead and planning to keep taking good care of it.