Before before before after after [original face shape & reason for surgery & points I wanted improved & points I considered when choosing a hospital] My original face shape was a sunken midface + protruding lower jaw. When I was young, my lower teeth protruded farther forward than my upper teeth, but with orthodontic treatment in elementary school, they somehow forced my dental occlusion to fit. So I had no problems with chewing or pronunciation, but the face shape that looked like a protruding lower jaw could not be solved with orthodontics.
Originally, I don’t make a living with my face, and because I had a vague thought that double-jaw surgery seemed dangerous, I didn’t look into surgery and just avoided it, but the protruding lower-jaw face bothered me so much.
I was obsessed with doing everything, like hairstyle, makeup, and procedures, in a way that wouldn’t draw attention to my jaw, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t hide it, and I got stressed every time I saw photos, so I ended up having surgery. I wanted to improve my sunken midface and protruding lower-jaw face shape. I went to three hospitals, liked two of them, and the estimates were almost the same, but among them I ultimately had surgery at Y Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
When choosing a hospital, I considered the criteria below.
1. Long experience with double-jaw & facial contouring surgery. I tried to choose a doctor who understood various patients’ faces and could skillfully handle different situations that could arise during surgery. I thought that was only possible with many surgical cases, so I looked at experience first. And I thought that if there were many surgical cases, they would have heard postoperative feedback from patients, and would know what patients’ needs are and what kind of face patients want.
2. A hospital with an anesthesiology specialist / a hospital with operating room CCTV I had heard that what is dangerous is not the surgery itself so much as anesthesia and situations where the patient’s condition is not checked while under anesthesia, so I considered having an anesthesiologist important. Operating room CCTV seemed good because guardians can watch in real time.
3. I considered whether many before-and-after photo cases were disclosed, and whether people with faces similar to mine had improved in the way I wanted.
<Day of double-jaw surgery, square jaw surgery, and chin surgery> When I woke up, I was in pain, cold, and it was uncomfortable to breathe It was hard to breathe because of phlegm, so even at night I gagged by myself several times. I’m originally the type who gets phlegm easily and feels extremely uncomfortable even if a little phlegm builds up, so the first day was really hard. I also kept dozing for 1-5 minutes and waking up.
<Day 1> I swelled a lot. My nose was completely blocked, so breathing, drinking water, eating, swallowing saliva, all of it didn’t work well… After removing the urinary catheter and blood drain? tube, I felt at least a bit more able to live. When I sat still, I focused on the discomfort or pain, so even though it was hard, I walked around the hospital whenever I could. Unexpectedly, walking was manageable and better than staying still. I really hate sleeping with my nose blocked, so I thought maybe if I walked hard that day it might open up a bit, but not a chance
Day 2 (discharge) ~ Day 6> After being discharged, taking medicine was the hardest. Especially the large antibiotics and the long capsule pills that kept getting caught in my throat; for the first day or two, I couldn’t swallow the antibiotics properly, so I cut them up and crushed them into powder to take them Taking medicine was really, really hard, but I forced it down because I couldn’t get inflammation. At first it really feels like you absolutely can’t take the medicine, but once you develop some technique for taking it and the swelling inside the mouth goes down a bit, you can still take it. After discharge, during the day there was almost no pain and my nose opened up somewhat, but at night the sutured areas, jaw, and teeth felt throbbing and painful, my nose got blocked, and my throat stung too. Until about Day 7, I couldn’t sleep through the night.
<Day 7> I went in for one visit. My condition was still bad, but just having gone to the hospital made me feel like I had recovered. Personally, the stuffy feeling in my ears was unexpectedly so uncomfortable and bothersome, so I wanted it to get better quickly, but there was no sign of improvement I also regained quite a bit of energy, so I walked for over 1 hour and 15 minutes at night, and I was fine without symptoms like dizziness!
Since I’m a freelancer, from Day 8 I also worked as usual. Easy tasks or mechanical tasks were quite manageable, but tasks requiring a high level of judgment were difficult, and the quality of the results differed from usual. I think it’s because I was dizzy haha Still, I feel reassured because the surgery seems to have gone well, but I’m being careful!
Day 15 (2-week checkup, day of stitch removal)
Today I had the stitches inside my mouth removed! Removing the stitches near the philtrum hurt a bit. But near the molars, it was just okay. haha I heard stitch removal hurts a lot, so I was nervous, but for me, waking up on the day of surgery was much harder, and the stitches were just a brief sting, so it was okay. For a few hours after removal, the wound area hurt a little and I tasted blood, but by evening it was just fine. And after receiving care too, it felt like things became a bit more livable.
<Week 4>
After a little over 2 weeks, it just felt like I was gradually getting better. Time passed quickly! I had seen several reviews from other people who struggled for a long time with worsened stamina or condition issues, so I was worried, but from Week 2 my condition felt pretty much like usual! I went for the Week 4 checkup, and they said I can now take out the wafer and go around without it, and that I can chew soft foods, so I’m trying to chew little by little. Now that it’s been over a month, I do strength training almost like before surgery. To my eyes, I can still see that the swelling hasn’t fully gone down, but when I went around without a mask, people around me said my face got much smaller and asked whether even more swelling would really go down from here, so I felt good haha
Still, the effect is definitely good, so although the recovery period was personally hard, I’m satisfied haha
This review is a surgery review that pursues a natural look.