It has already been 10 months since my double jaw surgery. When I first decided to have the surgery, even 10 months felt unimaginably far away, but now that time has passed, it really feels like it went by much faster than I expected. Right after surgery, each day felt long, and I kept worrying about when the swelling would go down, when I would be able to eat properly, and so on. Now, even those worries feel like they are gradually fading.
If I sum up my current condition, there is almost nothing uncomfortable left because of the surgery. I can eat comfortably without especially avoiding any foods, and I can eat meat and even slightly firm foods naturally without being conscious of my jaw. During meals, I no longer really think, "Is it okay to eat this?" or "Will this put strain on my jaw?"
The same goes for exercise. I have no special discomfort when doing weights or cardio, and I do not feel conscious of my jaw while working out. Right after surgery, I was also worried about how much weight and muscle I had lost, but now that I have been exercising consistently, my body feels like it has recovered a lot.
The swelling is now at a level where I really do not have to think about it. At first I would look in the mirror every day and keep checking, "How much has the swelling gone down today?" but now my face feels like it has settled into a natural shape to the point that I do not need to pay attention to swelling anymore. If anything, when I look at old photos these days, what stands out more than the face shape itself is how much my expression and overall impression have changed.
In the past, because my mouth and jaw were protruding, I felt like I looked sulky even when I had a blank expression, and when taking photos I think I always tried to find an angle that would make me look even slightly better. But now, when I take photos, I do not especially worry about my face angle anymore. I feel like even a natural shot is fine, and when I see candid photos, I often feel more satisfied than before.
The functional side is definitely satisfying too. My bite has settled stably, and chewing food on both sides has become natural. I also remember how my mouth would not open well in the early stage after surgery and I had to keep doing jaw exercises, but now I almost never have any trouble opening my mouth or eating, even without doing separate exercises.
Looking back, the hardest part after double jaw surgery was ultimately the recovery period. Right after surgery, breathing was uncomfortable, eating was not free and easy, and speaking was not easy either, so there were moments when I thought, "How am I going to get through all this time?" But now, after going through that period and reaching 10 months, it feels like it passed really quickly.
And now, more than the fact that I had double jaw surgery, I think I have become more used to the life that changed afterward. When I first consulted at Lee Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery with Dr. Kim Jong-yoon, I had a lot of worries about the surgery. Since it was a major operation, I kept thinking about whether the results would turn out well and whether I would recover properly. But after going through the recovery process up to now, I really feel that I made the right choice in choosing Lee Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery back then and having Dr. Kim Jong-yoon perform the surgery.
At present, I am more looking forward to when the orthodontic treatment will end than to the surgery itself. The surgery brought major changes to my face, and now it feels like the remaining process is to finish the orthodontic treatment and complete the teeth alignment. It is fun to see the bite line changing little by little each month, and I am also looking forward to the final look after all the braces are removed.
At first I worried a lot, thinking, "Will I really be satisfied if I get double jaw surgery?" and "Will I be able to endure the recovery period well?" But now, 10 months later, I even wonder why I worried for so long. Of course the surgery itself was not easy, and the early recovery period was definitely hard, but when I think about my life now, I believe it was a choice worth enduring that time for.
Most of all, I am satisfied not only with the appearance change but also with being able to eat comfortably, take natural-looking photos, and go through daily life without constantly thinking about it. After 10 months, I feel that double jaw surgery was not just an operation that changed the face shape, but a process of gradually removing the small discomforts and stress that had been bothering me. If I were to go back to before the surgery now, I would probably still think hard about it, but in the end I think I would make the same choice. That is how high my current satisfaction is, and I am also satisfied that I had the surgery performed by Dr. Kim Jong-yoon at Lee Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
Now I want to finish the orthodontic treatment well and see what my final result will look like. In the next review, I am planning to write in a little more detail about the orthodontic progress and what changes there are at 11 months.