Before surgery, I had a severe underbite and facial asymmetry. When I took photos, my face came out crooked, and because of the underbite I looked strange. It had been a concern since I was young, and growing older did not make it go away. On the contrary, it bothered me more over time, and without realizing it I kept twisting my jaw sideways to make it line up. Instead of continuing to worry like that, I decided to go ahead with the double-jaw surgery I had been thinking about for a long time, and I told a friend about my concerns over drinks. My friend worked in the cosmetic field and told me that for bone-related surgery like double-jaw surgery, I should go to a hospital that mainly performs those procedures, and recommended Yangyundol Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic.
I was told that because my asymmetry was severe and I also had chin surgery at the same time, the operation took about 6 hours. After the long surgery, an even longer recovery period began. I stayed in the hospital for 2 nights, and the nurses did their best to control the swelling with ice packs, tightening bands, and so on. If they had not done that, I think I would have swollen much more. The two days in the hospital were really hard because it was difficult to breathe and even harder to drink water, but after I was discharged and went home, things gradually got better.
During the first week, breathing was not smooth, so I had a tube in my nose and basically lived only on the sofa. With so much swelling overall and the tube still in place, daily life was extremely difficult. I mostly ate New Care. My airway was so swollen that even rice porridge was hard to swallow.
Starting in the second week, I began removing the tube from my nose. Once breathing became easier, daily life became much more comfortable from that point on. They had said that every day would keep changing through the second week, and in fact as the swelling in my airway, tongue, and so on went down, even taking medicine and eating improved a lot. I started intermaxillary fixation in the second week.
From the third week, I gradually tried regular food. Since I planned to have orthodontic treatment after surgery, my braces had not started yet, so even with regular food it could take over an hour. I started living with my mouth held tightly shut for almost 20 hours a day, including while sleeping, with intermaxillary fixation in place. My jaw joint hurt from keeping my mouth clenched all day, but it was still manageable. I started going out for walks from the second week, and from the third week I was able to clean the house and wash the car, so moving around itself was not a big problem.
I started going back to work in the fourth week. I was originally supposed to return in the third week, but I took an extra week of leave because of intermaxillary fixation. I wanted to go back without the fixation, but the hospital said I should probably keep it on a little longer, so I ended up returning to work with the fixation still in place. I could not speak properly, so that week was almost like a period of silence, and the headaches from the fixation were a bit hard to bear, but overall work life itself was manageable.
In the fifth week, the intermaxillary fixation was removed. Once it was removed, I could really feel the swelling in the lower face going down. For orthodontic treatment, I need to practice opening my mouth, but I was told to start that only after 6 weeks, so for now I am just consistently practicing pronunciation with "ai-u-e-o."
When I first decided to have the surgery and went in, I honestly thought that since it’s something people do, it can’t be that hard. That was a very naive thought. The recovery period is long, and especially in cases like mine where orthodontic treatment follows surgery, eating is what causes even more hardship. The recovery is difficult, but my complex about asymmetry and the underbite has been corrected neatly, so I feel more confident when looking in the mirror or taking photos. Even though the swelling has not fully gone down yet, my older sisters and acquaintances say I look very different and that my face has become smaller. It is definitely a difficult surgery, but the results are just as definite. I think it was really the right choice to follow my acquaintance’s recommendation and go to Yangyundol. The nurses were kind, and especially the doctor is very experienced and extremely thorough. If a friend recommended this hospital, I would feel confident recommending it too.