Hello before and after~! Since I was young, I’ve been stressed by the appearance of my side profile, with a protruding jawline. When I became an adult, I got orthodontic treatment to fix it, but orthodontics is just orthodontics,, my bite improved, but the fundamental facial line didn’t get corrected as much as I wanted. The dental clinic also recommended double jaw surgery, but I was so scared of surgery that I kept putting it off. Then one day,, I thought, life only comes once, so instead of agonizing over this and staying stressed, I should just go for it!! From that day on, I started looking for a hospital famous for double jaw surgery.
Because this was surgery that would affect my face, I wanted a hospital that could also professionally handle the oral area, so I looked mainly at oral and maxillofacial specialty hospitals. Among several hospitals, I ended up consulting at Y Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Dental Clinic. The best part of the consultation was that the director explained in detail which parts could be improved to suit my face shape and how the surgery would be performed, so I immediately felt trust, and I especially liked that he pointed out only the necessary parts without overdoing it. I also liked that CCTV footage is recorded during surgery and can be viewed if I want, and the chief administrator and other staff at the hospital were all really kind.
After a short period of thinking, I booked the surgery date, and I decided to proceed with double jaw surgery plus contouring 2 procedures (square jaw + chin). In the pre-op tests, I had anemia, so the hospital recommended taking iron supplements and receiving iron injections, and I went ahead with 4 iron injections and iron supplements up until the surgery before proceeding.
[Day of surgery / Day 1] I fasted from 11 p.m. the previous day, and since the surgery was scheduled to start at 10 a.m. that day, I went to the hospital by 9:30. Until the day before, I had been fine without much worry, but once I actually arrived at the hospital, I got nervous.. Still, I thought of it as the day I was finally getting rid of a lifelong worry, and tried to relax as much as possible before going into the operating room.
I went into the operating room a little after 10, and the surgery ended at 1:50. In many post-op reviews, people say they feel very sleepy and thirsty, but I didn’t feel sleepy or thirsty. Some people also struggle to breathe at first, but maybe because there was a tube in my nose, breathing was manageable. However, when I opened my eyes, I felt severe nausea like I had terrible motion sickness, and my teeth hurt so badly it felt like I had unbearable toothaches... And since I couldn’t lie down and had to sit all day, my butt hurt so much The pain was worse than I expected, so I kept waiting for time to pass quickly.. But... time really would not pass.....
At one point I got so nauseous that I was given medication to calm the motion sickness, and since they said they would remove the drainage tube and urinary catheter at 8 a.m. the next day, I just waited for that time. Because I was in pain, I could hardly sleep, and I was too out of it to use my phone, so the chief administrator contacted my parents for me. The director came by from time to time to check my condition, and said that if I could just endure one day, I would start feeling better, so I endured the day with that mindset. Still, the nurse came every hour throughout the night to replace my ice packs and take care of me, so I got through the day without too much trouble even without a guardian.
[Day 2] After 8 a.m., they removed the urinary catheter and drainage tube, and I also put on the fitted wafer. From then on I could walk, so since my butt had been hurting so much, I tried to walk around the hospital interior as much as possible, walking a bit and standing a bit. The pain was a little less than the first day, but as the nasal hose was removed, breathing through my nose got harder. I already knew that breathing after surgery would be difficult, so I tried to adapt by breathing through my mouth as much as possible. Still, I was so overwhelmed by the pain that I couldn’t think straight, and my throat was swollen so eating was hard, so I barely managed to drink one pack of New Care. I slept a little more than on the first day, but because of the pain and uncomfortable breathing, I think I spent the night sleeping about 15 minutes each hour. Compared with Day 1, it was still manageable..! When the pain was less, I passed the time by walking around.
[Day 3-5] Since it was the day of discharge, I had the swelling laser in the morning, then listened to the nurse explain the precautions after discharge, and left the hospital around 11 a.m. with my parents who came to pick me up. The hospital said the swelling would keep getting worse until Day 5, and it really did swell more each day... I was so swollen that my cheeks felt heavy.. Because the swelling kept increasing, it became really hard to take my medication Still, I was scared of delayed recovery and inflammation, so I took my medicine diligently. Eating was still hard, so I only drank New Care. Even by then, I still had some pain, so I had no appetite. Still, I tried to walk steadily for 30 minutes to 1 hour in the morning and evening. I kept getting nosebleeds, so I had gauze on, and because breathing was uncomfortable, I couldn’t sleep deeply. Still, I held onto the thought that once a week passed, my nose would clear up and the swelling would gradually go down, and I got through each day with that mindset.
[One week] It was really amazing, but by about one week, my nose started to open up little by little and the nosebleeds decreased so much that I no longer needed to keep gauze on. The pain also decreased a lot, so from this point on my condition definitely got better. I had also been eating only New Care, but from then on I started grinding up porridge to eat. I don’t like bread, so I got by on porridge, fruit juice, and ice cream. Once I started eating a bit more properly, my energy came back a lot, breathing became easier than before, and I gradually started sleeping through the night.
[Day 8 to 2 weeks] After a week had passed, the swelling started to go down little by little each day, and by Day 10 my nose was completely clear, so from that day on I started sleeping lying down. I also kept up with walking for an hour in the morning and evening, and did warm compresses frequently. My meals weren’t very different from the one-week period. The first week after surgery was truly hard, but once a week had passed, it became so much more bearable. Everyone! Even someone like me, who is bad at tolerating pain and easily scared, made it through, so it really is manageable..! From this point on, it was more discomfort than pain, but even that became familiar. However, I still had a lot of facial swelling, so in the front view I still don’t have a defined jawline... If you look at my pre-op photos, my chin was pointed and my overall face was V-line shaped, so I wasn’t unhappy with my front view. That’s why I still feel a bit depressed when I look in the mirror, but my side profile has improved to suit my face shape just the way I wanted, so I’m really satisfied..! As for the front view, I’m waiting for the swelling to go down quickly so my old jawline can come back Swelling is a battle against time, so I decided to wait with a little patience.
At the 2-week mark, I visited the hospital, had the stitches inside my mouth removed, and received swelling laser treatment. I had heard from many people that stitch removal hurts, so I was worried, but it just stung a little and they removed them quickly, so it was manageable. It didn’t hurt as much as I feared. As long as there is no inflammation inside the mouth, stitch removal doesn’t seem like something to worry too much about. The director said there was no inflammation and that everything was healing well, and told me to start mouth exercises seriously from then on. Since swelling only goes down by about 40-50% after one month, I decided not to stress too much and just wait. It was definitely more comfortable inside my mouth once the stitches were removed because there was no more pulling sensation. Now, a little over 2 weeks in, the pain has almost disappeared, and since I still can’t chew, I have to eat only foods I can swallow without chewing, like porridge and steamed egg, so aside from a bit of reduced stamina, I’m managing daily life without much trouble. I’m also quite used to the wafer now, so it’s tolerable, but it’s uncomfortable when talking, so I really want to remove it soon If you’re preparing for double jaw surgery, since you’ve made such a difficult decision, if you can just get through the first week after surgery well, time will pass more smoothly and it will be manageable, so I don’t think you need to worry too much..! If you think as positively and calmly as possible and follow the hospital’s instructions, you’ll be able to recover safely! Fighting!
- 4 weeks Before I knew it, it had been 4 weeks since the surgery. When I went to the hospital, the director said everything was healing well and removed the wafer~ What a relief Finally.. I was told I could chew softer foods, so from that day on I’ve been eating well by making soft foods my regular meals. Being able to chew is really such a happiness..
In other people’s reviews, the cheek swelling seems to go down a lot around the one-month mark, but mine hasn’t gone down as much as I expected, so... honestly it’s pretty stressful. But the director said it has gone down by about 40-50% now, and that if I come back at the 3-month mark and take photos for comparison, it will look much better, so I’m trying to steady my mind and wait..! Now, 4 weeks in, the sensation seems to be coming back, so apart from the occasional throbbing pain, it doesn’t really hurt much. However, I still have a lot of swelling inside my mouth, so talking for a long time, eating, or waking up in the morning is still a little hard My face is more swollen in the morning, to the point that it feels heavy… Still, after a month, daily life has become much easier than before, and I’m hoping the swelling will go down as soon as possible