Hello:) I’ll write my 2-week + 4-week review after having 3 facial contouring procedures (cheekbones + square jaw + chin) at the clinic (for convenience, I’ll write in a casual abbreviated style)
Usually, when I took ID photos, my asymmetry was very severe, so the right side of my face looked bigger. I don’t know if it was because of my habit of sleeping on my side, but my jaw was misaligned, so I thought that was why the asymmetry was so bad. Every time I took photos, I got stressed, and at some point I started thinking I wanted to have surgery to cut down my jaw.
I live outside Seoul, but I set aside a full day and went to consultations at several places. (Plastic surgeons really analyze faces very well... they hit me with harsh truths, but that was my face...) After the consultations, I learned that the biggest reason for my asymmetry was my cheekbones, and my face was not only cheekbones but also square jaw and even chin bone, so I was rich in developed bone. I was told that if I did the 3 facial contouring procedures, I could see a very big effect.
On the day I went for the consultation, the director was extremely busy doing surgery, so it was hard to meet him, but seeing that made me feel he really pays a lot of attention to surgery, so it actually gave me more trust. Honestly, once you go in under general anesthesia, you can’t know how the surgery is being done, and with very large hospitals, there are worries about ghost doctors and things like that, so I felt anxious and scared. But while waiting for the director’s consultation, I talked about many things with the consultant, and my fear calmed down. The consultant was very kind! During the director’s consultation, I showed him photos of the face shape I wanted, and he told me to bring a side-view photo of the face shape I wanted on the day of surgery. He also explained how the surgery would proceed.
Day of surgery I barely slept and took an early-morning train to go in for the first surgery. They told me to wear comfortable clothes, so I wore jeans and a T-shirt and brought a hat with a fairly wide brim. I changed into surgical clothing, washed my face, met the director, heard the surgical process once more, and signed the consent form. Then I went into the operating room and lay down on the operating table, got an injection that hurt a bit, and after that I don’t remember anything... After surgery, I woke up to someone telling me to wake up, and I was moved to the recovery room. On my face, I had a compression band and blood drains on both sides of my lips. From then on I was so cold that I was trembling, and after the nurse turned on an electric heating pad I was okay for a little while, but because of pain I got one painkiller injection and I think I dozed a bit on a bed with the upper body raised. It was almost 7 p.m. when they removed the blood drains, and the general anesthesia still hadn’t worn off, so I stayed one night at nearby accommodation. At the accommodation, I had a little pumpkin juice, took medicine, and slept, but I woke up more than once every hour. My throat and jaw area hurt, and I also had occasional nosebleeds, so I couldn’t sleep properly. I didn’t know it would hurt this much. Even if I took Tylenol ER, it would be okay briefly and then hurt again.
Post-op days 1-3 I went to the hospital, heard about my progress, received swelling care, then took the train home. Until day 3, it hurt a lot and I had occasional nosebleeds. I ate liquid foods like pumpkin juice, pumpkin red bean tea, and banana milk, and on day 3 I had no energy, so I bought porridge and ate about half a bowl. The swelling is worst around days 3-4, and I was swollen to the point that I wondered, is my face going to burst? When I wore the compression band, the swelling looked even worse. From post-op day 4, the pain went down a lot, and it only hurt a little when sleeping. The nosebleeds also stopped from then. I started eating porridge and soft tofu. At 1 week post-op, I had the sideburn stitches removed at the hospital, and I still had some throat pain up to then. I was the type to swell a lot, so I was still very swollen then too. I had symptoms of ear fullness and pain, but they got better as the swelling went down. I was eating porridge, but I got so sick of porridge that I mixed rice into soup and swallowed it almost without being able to chew. At 2 weeks post-op, when removing the stitches inside my mouth, I asked the doctor to do it without hurting, and even though they were extremely careful, it still stung quite a bit. I received swelling care, got a CT scan, and heard an explanation of my progress. After week 2, I no longer had blood-tinged phlegm. With much more swelling gone than before, I can see the face shape I wanted, and I’m happy every time I look in the mirror. They said I need to eat well for the bones to heal properly, but I’m wondering what to eat. I want to eat meat, but it would still be too much, right? In the early post-op period, until day 3 it was pain, and after that until week 2 it was hunger and having to sleep sitting up that were hard. Sleeping sitting up was at least manageable because I had a beanbag at home.
4 weeks post-op The swelling has gone down really, really a lot, so I think my face has returned to about its original size. The swelling was worse from the side than the front, but that has also gone down a lot now, so my jawline is starting to show. Now there is almost nothing uncomfortable except when eating. If I try to chew anything even a little firm, my jaw hurts a bit, but not to the point that I can’t eat. I was worried the bones might not heal, so I was careful even about opening my mouth, but I’ll go to the hospital next week to check my progress, and from then I think I’ll be able to open my mouth more comfortably. Right now, only about two fingers barely fit in. Since after week 2, I’ve been sleeping lying down. There is discomfort because I have to sleep on my back, but I’ve made up my mind not to sleep on my side from now on and am getting used to it. I feel that the asymmetry, which was my biggest concern, has improved a lot, and my face size also seems much slimmer, so my satisfaction is high.
This review is about a surgery review pursuing a natural look.