Hello, I’m a working professional in my 30s, and it has been 11 days since my double-jaw revision surgery. Since the swelling has kept going down after day 6, but there is still quite a lot of major swelling left and the photos are turning out similarly, I’m only uploading photos up to day 6. I hope this will be helpful for people considering double-jaw surgery, and I’ll mainly post the questions people ask often. Since this is a double-jaw revision surgery, I thought information based on what I actually felt as the patient would be good information. The photos at the top are the pre-op photos for numbers 1 and 2, and the very last photo is also before surgery. Numbers 3 and 4 are day 2, and numbers 5, 6, and 7 are around day 6.
1. How was the first surgery, and why did I have revision surgery? My face was not originally that large, but as I grew up the midface became longer, and one side of my jaw did not grow normally, so the asymmetry was severe. My face has a family-history tendency toward mandibular hypoplasia, and mine was the most severe, so my retrusive chin was also very pronounced. At first I was somewhat afraid of double-jaw surgery, and I had already done orthodontic treatment for 10 years since elementary school, so I was very skeptical about changing everything again and then doing double-jaw surgery. Still, because I felt that the asymmetry and retrusive chin were the right indications for double-jaw surgery, I started looking into it. It wasn’t that I wanted to become prettier from a cosmetic surgery standpoint; it was more that I was stressed by the fact that my face looked genuinely odd, so I wanted to solve just that problem clearly. In the end, even after looking around, there was no place I felt I could fully trust, so I went through an introduction from an acquaintance who is a doctor and was referred to a doctor they said was skilled. For the first surgery, I went to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, and the doctor recommended doing only the mandible, saying that double-jaw surgery would cost a lot and that while the asymmetry could be improved completely, the cosmetic effect would not be much different from doing only the mandible. I think that is the limitation of oral and maxillofacial surgery... Even though the cosmetic effect could clearly be large, when it comes to truly correcting the jawbone itself, the asymmetry improvement effect is only slight... For the second surgery, to achieve a definite cosmetic effect, they also suggested additional contouring of the asymmetric cheekbone area, and they thought a lot about how to maximize both asymmetry improvement and aesthetic effect, even taking into account the degree of eye protrusion. So I deeply regretted not having the first surgery done by a plastic surgeon. The first surgery was just as hard in terms of general anesthesia, but about a week later, when the swelling had gone down somewhat, it seemed like the jaw had been set a bit less twisted, so they performed local anesthesia, made an incision inside my mouth, and I had to vividly feel the doctor use a drill to remove the screws and then insert a hand to twist the jaw back into place. Even now, 5 years later, it remains a trauma for me ㅜ I should have made a very detailed plan from the beginning, deciding how much rotation would be done and how much bone would be shaved, but I don’t think there was much of that, and the surgical method was not explained very well either. Even so, if the result had been good, I wouldn’t have considered revision surgery... Yes, my retrusive chin came back. Whether it really recurred or simply was never improved from the beginning, I went back for a one-month follow-up, and the doctor said... Why is the double chin still there if the retrusive chin hasn’t disappeared...? It seems like you need to lose more weight.. I was 168 cm and 49 kg. After the lower-jaw surgery I couldn’t eat properly ^^; I comforted myself by thinking I should just be satisfied with the fact that the asymmetry improved and the chin came forward even a little, but as time went on the stress increased, and eventually while working I saved money and started seriously thinking about double-jaw surgery again.
2. Why did I choose the first hospital, and how did I choose the second one? For the first hospital, I thought I knew less than a doctor, so I was introduced through an acquaintance and only visited one place. Honestly, I can’t even understand why I was so unconcerned when it was a matter of my own face. ㅜㅜ My parents did pay for it, but why didn’t I work harder to visit many places when the surgery cost 10 to 20 million won? So when I looked for a hospital the second time, I decided I would visit at least five places in person for consultations, and I looked up every bit of information I could. Of course I searched cafes and app sites too... but there were so many posts that seemed like they were from brokers, or at least not ordinary people, but hospital staff, that I got very confused about whether the places were really that good or not. So I also searched YouTube a lot. I checked how the doctors who handle double-jaw surgery on YouTube explained things and how much care they seemed to put in, and then I decided I would go for in-person consultations. In the end, I really liked the consultation at the hospital I chose, so I decided without visiting every hospital on my shortlist. In the middle of that, one place only looked into chin advancement surgery through contouring, but double-jaw surgery would mean giving up summer vacation and taking a week off, so there was a risk. And I was scared too. The memory of general anesthesia does not disappear even after 5 years ㅜ But I still had to hear that my retrusive chin and asymmetry could not be solved by chin advancement surgery alone. At one oral and maxillofacial clinic where I had to wait a lot even just for consultation, unlike the first hospital, I felt that since they would not be doing cosmetic contouring or muscle-tie procedures, the aesthetic effect from asymmetry improvement alone would not be very large. Of course they said they would improve it a lot, but the doctor who messed up my first surgery said the same thing. In the end, the kind of doctor I really hate is one who says, as the doctor, I know what the problem is and how I’m going to operate, but you as the patient don’t know, so just trust me and I’ll take care of it. I hate that kind of attitude no matter whether it is double-jaw surgery or eye or nose surgery ㅜ
3. Review from pre-op consultation to after surgery First I had a CT scan and then a consultation with the director, and since I had to finish work I went in for a consultation very late at 6:30 p.m. Even though the doctor had to get off work, they still spent a very long time with me and were genuinely sincere. After looking at my bite and bone condition, they said I had done orthodontics for an extremely long time, tried silicone in my retrusive chin, suffered a lot with lower-jaw surgery, redid orthodontics several times, and had endured an enormous amount of hardship... I told them about the lower-jaw surgery, but I hadn’t even mentioned that I had silicone inserted and that the bone had been resorbed, yet they noticed it immediately ㅜ They didn’t say I definitely had to have surgery, but rather told me that I had worked extremely hard, and that unless I currently had a job taking photos of asymmetrical faces, it didn’t show that much and I was pretty, and that I looked like a celebrity ㅜ they said that if I were just living as an ordinary person, it wouldn’t actually be a necessary surgery, so I should stop suffering like this, and I got emotional.. But because my retrusive chin was severe, I talked openly about how it made me look easy to underestimate and depressed-looking, and how I had never been told I was pretty, and how when I took photos because of the asymmetry I looked unbelievably ugly, and I told the doctor that if only this asymmetry and retrusive chin were solved, I would feel fine even if I died after only a few more days. The doctor was truly warm-hearted, and aside from the surgery itself, they gave me a lot of emotional comfort... To be honest, my face was in a collapsed state, so they said that surgery could improve many parts and that I would change a lot. They said my midface was slightly long too, so they could make my face very small and pretty, and we spent more than 30 minutes thinking together about what kind of surgery would be best. They said that because there was asymmetry in the cheekbones, they would shave them through contouring, and since the lower jaw was too small and there was a limit to how much could be removed, they would also do chin advancement surgery, cut the chin bone and bring it forward, and over time the bone would grow and connect. If the midface is cut and the angle is adjusted, it doesn’t mean the lower jaw is being removed, but it has the effect of making the lower jaw look more prominent. To prevent sagging after surgery, they suggested doing double-chin muscle tying and liposuction together. Whether orthodontics would be needed or whether there were other methods, they said we should discuss it with the dentist and decide. They showed many examples of patients who were similar to me and how they improved, and how the swelling went down. They showed me a huge number of photos... It felt like they were consulting not just as a patient, but with genuine personal sympathy and a desire to help me.
After the consultation, I went home feeling very warmed in my heart... They said surgery would be scheduled about 3 weeks later, and I wanted to do it quickly, so I decided right away. After deciding on the surgery and paying the deposit, it seemed the doctor had also discussed things a lot with doctors in other fields, such as dentistry and oral and maxillofacial surgery. Before going into surgery, I had another consultation with the doctor, and that time too they explained everything for 20 to 30 minutes. What they had said during the first consultation about how the surgery would be done was already very specific, but before surgery they explained with exact numbers, which felt really reliable and clear, like listening to a project presentation from someone who had prepared extremely thoroughly... It made me feel how much they had thought about my face. The surgery itself was really nothing. I saw the general anesthesia doctor briefly, got the IV connected, heard “you’re going to sleep now,” and when I opened my eyes it was over. It was my second time under general anesthesia, so I knew exactly what that was like, and aside from my jaw hurting, I thought the real hell had begun for four days because of the anesthesia. As expected, even if I lay there a little, the bloody phlegm that had gone down into my airway under general anesthesia would come out with a cough, and every time I coughed the bones shook and it was miserable. I couldn’t sleep for a single moment, and I couldn’t breathe comfortably. If I mention a few advantages of this hospital here: First, the general anesthesia doctor is in the hospital, so there is no separate anesthesia fee, and their skill is verified. At the hospital where I had my first surgery, they had to call in a general anesthesia doctor, so the anesthesia fee was an extra 1 million won, and maybe because that doctor wasn’t very skilled, bloody phlegm came out like crazy. But here, the general anesthesia doctor somehow made it so it couldn’t disappear completely, but the amount was significantly smaller... So compared with the first surgery, the days of not sleeping and spitting out bloody phlegm felt shortened by about 0.7 times. Of course, because I’m sensitive, I still didn’t sleep for days, but it was clearly much less painful. Second, the hospital stay is longer than at other hospitals. It is 3 nights and 4 days. Staying in the hospital is frustrating, but while you’re admitted you can get pain medication immediately and be checked on... I think the attentive care during the hospitalization period was what sped up my recovery. From what I roughly found out, other hospitals had 2 nights and 3 days as the longest admission period, and when I had my first surgery, I was discharged the same day. I understand there are many hospitals that discharge patients the same day for double-jaw surgery, basically telling you to go home and take care of yourself, whether you live or die ㅜ Some hospitals don’t even have inpatient rooms or on-call staff. Third, the directors really are very kind and take very good care of patients. Of course the staff members were the same. During my 3 nights and 4 days in the hospital, the doctor who performed my double-jaw surgery was on duty for 2 days. There were other double-jaw patients besides me, but I felt that it wasn’t because anyone told them to do it, but because the doctor genuinely worried and cared. Otherwise, while on duty, why would they come at 3 or 4 in the morning and directly suction me because they were worried about whether breathing was uncomfortable? ㅜ Maybe because they really understand the anatomical structure well, the doctor’s suction of blood phlegm from both my nose and mouth felt the most refreshing, even more than the nurse’s.. My surgery was on Saturday, so the next day was Sunday, but they kept coming by in between, checking on me, directly adjusting my pain medication, and even buying me Pocari. I thought they must want to spend at least Sunday with their family, and I felt so sorry, but as if they had read my mind, they joked, “Married men will use any excuse to come out on the weekend like this. Don’t date someone like that, date someone who wants to stick close to you,” and I burst into tears because I could feel the consideration behind it, that they were saying it because they didn’t want me to feel guilty ㅜㅜ
If contouring alone could improve it, I thought I’d just do contouring and then maybe the nose too, so I also had a nose consultation, and I was already acquainted with the chief director. The chief director also came several times on Sunday to check on me, told jokes, and said, “Oh wow, you look like Karina,” and that I had become so pretty, which gave me a lot of strength and I was very grateful. ㅎㅎ
4. What I think after the surgery Because I knew how much stress I had been carrying throughout my life, it seemed the doctor wanted to show me my improved appearance as quickly as possible. After surgery, when you sleep and wake up, the swelling starts, but right after the surgery there isn’t actually much swelling. When I was still not fully in my right mind, the doctor immediately held up a mirror and told me I had become this much prettier. Thinking about it later, even though I had done eye and nose cosmetic surgery and even tried silicone in my retrusive chin and other things, no one had ever shown me a mirror right away like that. I think they were able to do that because they empathized with how the patient feels. The surgery turned out really well... Even though there is still a lot of swelling, you can clearly see with the naked eye that my retrusive chin has come forward. I don’t think I took enough photos to show a perfect before-and-after difference, but I hope this is still helpful as a reference.. People asked exactly how much was reduced, so the midface was reduced by 4.5 mm, and for the rest, a lot was shaved while matching the asymmetry, so I can’t remember the specific details well enough to explain them exactly... A lot of people are curious about how much the midface was reduced.. I’ll leave another review after the swelling goes down more, in one or two months. For people who are worried because of their facial shape... or people who need more information about double-jaw surgery, I’m happy to answer whatever I know ㅜ Thank you for reading such a long post.