Hello. I had double-jaw surgery and two types of facial contouring surgery at [Clinic A] in mid-August 2025: square-jaw and chin surgery. It has now been one year since surgery.
The first and second months were difficult, frightening, and exhausting, but by the third month I had entered a fairly stable period. With my busy daily life, a whole year has already passed.
Mine was a surgery-first orthodontic case, so I am still receiving orthodontic treatment. Since dental care is difficult during orthodontics, I have recently also been visiting a general dentist for cavity treatment.
Between six months and one year, apart from orthodontic discomfort, I lived an ordinary daily life as before surgery. I had altered sensation around the inferior alveolar nerve until six months, but it has improved greatly now. They say nerve-related symptoms gradually almost return over time, but because I was worried, I took vitamin supplements that are good for nerves.
I was so busy between six months and one year that I rarely thought about the surgery, but sometimes I touch my jaw with both hands and am surprised by how much smaller it has become. It feels amazing every time I touch it.
People around me often say that my impression has become softer than before. The result is so natural that unless they are close to me, they think my impression changed because of orthodontics.
After one year, the result is essentially stable and the surgeon's follow-up is complete, but I also want to finish orthodontic treatment properly and am considering plate-removal surgery. If I complete that too, I feel that perhaps the whole process will finally be over.
Although I am happily living with the result, I still feel that I cannot enjoy 100% of life after surgery because I am undergoing orthodontics. For example, before surgery I often covered my mouth when laughing, and now even though my smile looks natural, I still cover my mouth because of the braces.
(By the way, they said plate removal is easiest between one year and one year six months after surgery. It is not mandatory, and among people who had surgery, the proportion who choose it is almost fifty-fifty... I am still deliberating too.)
If you have only just had surgery, the time up to three to six months may feel incredibly slow, but after six months almost all daily activities recover, so time starts moving quickly again. Haha.
That does not mean I have forgotten how things were when I was a tadpole, haha. Memories from the early postoperative period still remain, so I do not think I can easily decide on plate-removal surgery yet. You all know how impossibly difficult it is immediately after surgery, right? Haha....
That is my brief one-year review so far.... For the things that only time can resolve, let us leave them to time and focus on what we can take care of ourselves. Let us get through the time ahead together, too, haha.