I’m writing this in hopes it helps someone, because I remembered my past self wandering around looking for reviews...
I had double-jaw surgery at a private hospital in Seoul in December 2021. I started presurgical orthodontic treatment in May of that year. I’ve now completed the plate/screw removal surgery and am currently undergoing postsurgical orthodontic treatment. As I remember it, the cost was 4 million for orthodontics, 14 million for surgery, and 2 million for plate/screw removal.
Starting with the review of the surgery itself, when I was put under general anesthesia, I felt a cold sensation of something entering through my arm. I was counting numbers in my head, and when I came to, I was being supported by a nurse and walking to the recovery room bed. For reference, I did not have a blood drain or urinary catheter. I understand that a breathing tube was inserted into my airway, but I had no pain at all from the intubation. As soon as I woke up, I asked for my phone and took a selfie. I wasn’t swollen at all, so I thought, oh, what’s this~ and took it lightly. But swelling started from the inside, breathing gradually became uncomfortable, and my cheeks swelled like crazy, making it hard to even open my eyes. There was no pain at all at the surgical site. I think it was thanks to the IV in the recovery room and the prescription medications after discharge. While hospitalized, my lower back hurt a lot because I had to stay on a bed with the backrest raised, at an angle that was neither really sitting nor lying down haha I drank water and orange juice through a syringe. Just breathing was so difficult that I tried not to drink much water, but the nurse said I was drinking far too little and needed to drink at least several cups, so later I made an effort.
After that, I stayed in the recovery room for 2 nights and was discharged on day 3. For several days after discharge, it was really hard. The swelling that I thought would go down quickly was still there, and my swollen cheek tissue pushed between my teeth, so I couldn’t even close my mouth. Water and saliva kept dripping from my mouth, so I lived with a towel under it, but the prescription medicine smelled so awful that I had to boil all the towels. Because breathing was hard, I kept waking up several times after sleeping shallowly while sitting. I felt like crying, but I thought crying would make it even harder to breathe, so tears just streamed down and I couldn’t even cry properly. In my case, the bruising was quite severe. About one-third of my face turned very dark, almost like Black skin. I worried a lot that something had gone wrong, but of course now it’s completely clear haha
The change from the front looks very different to my eyes, but people around me couldn’t recognize it immediately just from the front view. It might be because I didn’t touch the chin tip separately, or because parts of my face other than my jaw may be more characteristic haha I’m not sure. The change from the side is very clear. When I show my side profile, everyone goes, oh! I had always wondered what it meant for the upper teeth to cover the lower teeth, and after surgery the changed bite felt so fascinating and awkward that I kept feeling it with my tongue haha The actual usable space inside my mouth seems to have become much smaller. Before surgery, the usable space was quite large haha lol, so I used to wrap huge ssam and pop it into my mouth in one bite, but now even a tiny mini ssam takes effort. As for fat under the chin.. Before surgery, I didn’t have a double chin even when I pulled my chin in, but now it appears right away even if I lower my head slightly lol But rather than thinking this is because the skin is sagging, I think the volume that was already there from the size of the salivary glands or fat around the jaw had been hidden by the malocclusion. I was prepared for it even before surgery, so I’m not too stressed about it. Actually, in the case of my cheek fat, as the jaw moved backward, it gathered and settled like kind of cute cheek fat, so it’s not bad haha Lastly, I’ll tell you about sensation. In the maxilla, because nerve transection inevitably occurs during the surgical process, there is no sensation. This is around the upper teeth, upper gums, and palate. For the mandible, at first the sensation from the left chin tip to around the corner of my mouth was slightly different. It felt like that electric sensation when you touch your leg after it has gone numb from poor circulation, plus a feeling like the anesthesia hadn’t fully worn off. For the mandible, a lot of sensation has returned now.
If someone told me to undergo double-jaw surgery one more time, I would never do it even if I died, but if I went back to the past and had to choose again, I would choose the surgery.
If you have any questions, leave a comment and I’ll answer as much as I can~