I had lived satisfied with fillers or Botox without any plastic surgery, but if there was one thing I still wanted to fix, it was my face shape. When I took photos, I was busier correcting my face shape than my eyes, nose, or mouth, and if someone who speaks carelessly pointed that part out, it hurt me and stayed in my memory for a long time.
So while I was taking a break from work before changing jobs, I suddenly became fixated on it, and before it got any later, I thought this was the time. I booked consultations at two places in total, one plastic surgery clinic and one oral and maxillofacial surgery clinic, and I scheduled the surgery date that same day at the place I trusted more. It was the oral and maxillofacial surgery clinic!
The reason I decided on this place was that I kept remembering what my anatomy professor said during class when I was in college: for things like double-jaw surgery, you should go to oral and maxillofacial surgery. The clinic itself was very clean, and I was worried because I had seen reviews saying the director was blunt, but he wasn’t like that, so I felt even more drawn to it.
I only had one contouring procedure, square jaw reduction. The reason was that I felt resistant to having the cheekbones and anterior chin bone fixed with pins, and I didn’t think those two areas were major complexes for me. I only wanted to resolve the angular part when viewed from the side, and I wanted a natural result rather than a dramatic one.
Once I set the surgery date, they did a blood test right there. Originally, I also had to stop by internal medicine for other tests, but maybe because it was almost 6 o’clock at the time, they told me to come in once more. Since I live outside Seoul, the cost of getting the tests done at an internal medicine clinic near my home was cheaper than going up there for free tests plus round-trip bus fare, so I brought the results with me.
Day 1 (day of surgery) They said guardians couldn’t stay after 7 p.m., the end of clinic hours, so I went up alone. My surgery was at 2, and they told me to arrive by 1:30. After I arrived, I went to the pharmacy and picked up the medicine first. There was quite a lot, and it was heavier than expected, and it cost around 60,000 won. After that, I heard the precautions from the consultant, was shown to the inpatient room, changed clothes, washed my face, gargled, and waited. I think I went into the operating room around 3 and woke up around 4. I talked to the nurse and the director, video-called my friends, and even watched I Am Solo on my phone. At first, aside from my throat feeling scratchy and sore and it being hard to breathe through my nose, I was surprisingly okay. They said I shouldn’t fall asleep until 11 because of the anesthetic gas, but I held out for a long time and then fell asleep before that. Around then, maybe because the anesthesia started wearing off, I was in a lot of pain for about 2 hours. Even so, I think the surgery hurt less than COVID. Rather than pain, it felt very numb and tingling. I had fasted for 8 hours before the surgery, so I wanted to drink water quickly, but they wouldn’t let me drink even right after surgery. Later I was so exhausted I didn’t even think about drinking, but the nurse encouraged me that I had to drink, so I think I drank some around dawn. Oh, they also had a neck pillow and cushion, so it was comfortable.
Day 2 (the next day) In the morning, they removed the uncomfortable IV. I had seen a lot of reviews saying the drain removal felt strange, so I was worried, but as written, it didn’t hurt. And I think the moment I first took off the compression band was when the swelling looked the prettiest. The angular jaw had disappeared, so I was very satisfied. After discharge, I immediately took the subway and then a bus, and I slept more deeply on the bus than at the clinic. When I got home, I tried to eat porridge because of the medicine, and I didn’t know chewing the rice grains in porridge would be this hard. So I blended it in a blender and ate it.
Days 3-4 My face was completely like a hamster’s, and the swelling was at its peak, to the point that my mom teased me every time she saw me, telling me to spit out the candy. I tried eating castella and cream bread because I wanted to try something else. I soaked the castella in milk, and for the cream bread, I tore it apart with a small fork and worked hard to eat it, but later my face felt hot just from that little bit of chewing. So I think I mostly ate steamed eggs. Also, I heard walking was best for swelling, so I went out, but after walking 30 minutes I got dizzy and couldn’t walk more than that.
Days 6-7 From day 6, I could clearly see the swelling gradually going down. I think office workers should take at least 6 days off.
Week 2 On the day I finally went to remove the stitches, I was scared because there were many reviews saying it hurt more than drain removal, but it didn’t hurt at all. After they removed them, I think I’ve just been eating all ordinary foods. And honestly, I wore the compression band and did cold compresses diligently, but I didn’t do warm compresses because it was bothersome. I didn’t bruise at all either. Until I finished all my medication, I slept almost sitting up so the swelling would go down quickly, and as soon as I woke up, I drank one protein drink, took my morning medication, and also drank pumpkin juice every time I swallowed medicine. From the front, there still isn’t much before-and-after difference, to the point that I wonder if I really had surgery, and from the side, I’m the only one who sees a big effect, so I’m satisfied while hoping it goes down more!!
Week 4 I think I ate almost everything except really hard and tough foods. I’m not especially fond of alcohol, but when I went to drinking gatherings, I drank non-alcoholic drinks. Most of my close friends reacted that even when I told them I had surgery, it looked so natural they couldn’t tell at all. To me, the swelling looked completely gone, but the director said it hadn’t fully gone down yet.
Month 3 From people’s reactions around me and from coming to the clinic and taking photos, the swelling really was different between month 1 and month 3. I had already been very satisfied before, but now I’m extremely satisfied and just grateful to the director. I really think I did well to have the surgery. The money doesn’t feel wasted, and I have no regrets at all As for eating, I’m eating all foods just like before surgery, to the point that I forget I had surgery. In the past, I unconsciously tucked my hair behind my ears because it bothered my field of vision, but now I confidently tuck my hair behind my ears and walk around ><