I’d always been bothered by my cheekbones + wide square jaw + flat face + hollow cheeks. I’d tried laser lifting, thread lifting, Botox, fat-dissolving injections, muscle tying, and everything else, but nothing improved things enough to make me happy, so I started looking into surgery. I live in the provinces, so it was hard to visit Seoul multiple times. I asked around for a place where I could have same-day consultation + same-day surgery, booked a surgery date right away, and had the consultation + surgery on the same day. Below is my review from the day of surgery through day 27!
Day of surgery: Everything went smoothly from prep to consultation to surgery. I changed clothes, took photos, waited, and then had a consultation with Dr. Oh Jeong-seok. Honestly, I didn’t have a specific face shape I wanted, but I most wanted improvement in the side cheekbones, the flatness of my face, and the asymmetry of my square jaw. The doctor seemed to look at me and immediately know exactly what needed to be done. He asked how much of the angle below the ear I wanted to leave, and I said, “Just leave it enough so it’s still there,” and he said OK. Very chill~~~! We decided to remove buccal fat as well if he opened it up and found it necessary, and the consultation with the doctor ended. He didn’t mark my face for design, so I asked the coordinator about it and was told he normally doesn’t do design… oh. He said he prefers to look directly at photos while deciding, which I thought was interesting. Then after a little while, I went to the bathroom, entered the operating room, lay down, had the oxygen mask on, and then I remember nothing.. Suddenly someone woke me up and moved me to the recovery room, and that’s when hell started lol As soon as I sat up in the recovery bed, I touched my facial skin and lips a little and could feel everything. I was worried I might have no sensation, so thankfully Other people’s reviews said they were cold and had a sore throat, so I was nervous, but I had none of that. Instead I was just extremely dizzy and nauseated.. I’d suffered similarly when I had IV sedation for something else before, so anesthesia was what I feared most, and sure enough lol And I absolutely wanted to avoid a drain, but I got a drain lol! I wanted to sleep, but the staff kept coming in one after another and waking me up, saying I couldn’t sleep... and then I vomited Even when I wasn’t retching, bloody vomit just kept automatically pouring out of my mouth.. It was truly so painful that I never want anesthesia again. Since I knew the surgery itself hadn’t gone wrong and it was due to the anesthesia, I just blamed the anesthesia and kept vomiting nonstop. The doctor came in once or twice and seemed to say something, but I don’t really remember… I do remember him saying the surgery had gone well lol.. I’d heard removing the drain would hurt a lot, but it was tolerable.. The nausea was much harder to bear Anyway, after a while my friend came to pick me up, and I somehow got dressed and left the hospital, but then I felt vomit rising again and threw up straight into the bathroom sink at the hospital lol. It was all blood.. Sigh.. Honestly, I wanted to keep recovering there longer, but it felt like the hospital kept urging me to leave.. I felt so nauseated and exhausted I wasn’t mentally clear either.. Honestly, the only memory I have from the day of surgery was feeling like I was about to vomit the whole time..
Day of surgery to early morning on day 1: I woke up in the early morning and vomited again!!!!! lol I’d forced myself to drink water because I had to take medication, and that water came right back up as vomit~! While I was trying to sleep, I could keep hearing bloody phlegm bubbling up, and I could feel blood flowing from my nose down into my throat Please, seriously, help me
Day 1: I was a little more clear-headed than yesterday, but I woke up in the morning feeling nauseated and then vomited again. Please, enough already.... I was so exhausted that I contacted the hospital, and they said I needed to breathe deeply to clear out the anesthesia gas, and since my stomach had been empty for too long, I should drink something like Pocari Sweat. I did that, took my noon medication, slept, and when I woke up, huh? My stomach felt okay?? So I took the chance to drink Pocari Sweat happily and also drank Almond Breeze and survived a bit. I was a little more swollen than yesterday, but by evening the swelling went down. At that time I had no idea. I never imagined my face would swell up that much.
Day 1 to early morning on day 2: Suddenly my face swelled like it was about to burst. After contacting the hospital, I was told to use the face strap + gauze pressure + cold compress, and to come in the morning if it got worse. Compared with the previous day, when I kept waking up fully alert every hour, I could now sleep for about three hours at a stretch. Of course it wasn’t deep sleep; I still kept waking up, but I could fall back asleep quickly. In the middle of the night I got up and spent about 30 minutes again on disinfection + face strap + gauze pressure + cold compress. It swelled to its maximum and then stopped there. It neither got bigger nor went down… human Majin Buu
Day 2: The swelling was the same as last night. My stomach felt bad again in the morning.. Still, I held back because I didn’t want to vomit. I took my medication and ate liquid meals. Swelling at its peak.. My lips were all cracked haha All my sensations were still there, as they had been before, but it felt even clearer. But because I was so swollen, it was hard to wear the face strap, so I only did it twice for about 30 minutes each and then gave up.. I slept a little in the early evening and woke up, and it was slightly swollen, so I ate liquid food and took my evening medicine, then repeated the routine (disinfection + face strap + gauze pressure + cold compress). And I was excited because I could remove the tape and brush my teeth the next day.
Day 2 to early morning on day 3: As usual, I woke up while sleeping. Thankfully there was no nausea or other symptoms; the incision areas inside my mouth were throbbing, so I took one Tylenol. Since I was awake, I did disinfection + cold compress and went back to sleep.
Day 3: My throat suddenly hurt so much. It really hurt so badly I was shocked.. Did I snore because I slept looking upward...? And my face got super oily lol. Until the day after surgery, my skin and hair were still dry and nice, which was strange, but now it feels like my body is finally metabolizing things. I’m alive After waking up, I ate my morning liquid meal + medication, brushed my teeth, and removed the tape. I still had a slight feeling of nausea. This surgery was truly something I’d wanted for a long time, so as soon as I removed the tape I wanted to scream. My wide jaw was gone haha. The cheekbone area was still very swollen, so I couldn’t see it clearly yet, but I could feel the line taking shape Someone said day 3 was the hardest, and I thought maybe you really just have to endure 3 days. I got up, put on waterproof tape, and showered. I really, truly felt like I could live again. I ordered porridge. The radish water kimchi broth was so good. I went for a walk and walked for about 30 minutes.
Day 3 to early morning on day 4: Night and early morning seem to be the hardest. The swelling got even more taut, and strangely, when I wore the face strap, I got a lot of paroxysmal coughing, so I had to loosen it quickly. I searched reviews a lot, and it seemed like I was more swollen and tight than other people, and bruises I hadn’t had around my mouth appeared, so I made a hospital appointment for the next day.
Day 4: It swelled the most. It was to the point where I wondered if this was okay. While sleeping, my mouth swelled up, and the stitches made it quite uncomfortable. So I got up in the early morning and did brushing + disinfection + face strap + cold compress.. When I went to the hospital during the day, the staff comforted me by saying that I did seem to be more swollen than other people, but that the swelling would gradually go down starting today.. They checked the incision sites, did 20 minutes of swelling-laser treatment, and since there were no major issues, I didn’t see the doctor separately and went home. When I got home and walked 7 km, my face became a little more human....! I ate porridge for lunch and dinner, and my mouth could open wide enough for an adult spoon. But whenever I lay down and then suddenly felt a stabbing sensation inside my throat, I would start coughing nonstop at night. It seems like a side effect of general anesthesia, but it was hard trying to cough without putting too much strain on my face.
Day 5: The swelling went down just a little. But it was still puffy and tight.. Sleeping was still uncomfortable.. Since I kept lying at an angle, my tailbone, which was under constant pressure, started hurting. When I woke up, I applied ointment to the sideburn incision area and did liquid meals + disinfection + face strap + compress. I could tolerate the pain and nausea, but the worst part was the severe swelling. My face felt heavy... So after breakfast I went out and walked 8 km, then came back. It became a human face! I showered. It became a bit more of a human face! I did the face strap + cold compress, then took it off, and it became even more of a human face! Walking really seems to be the best. I wanted to eat something normal instead of porridge, so I tried Cheongjeongwon anchovy rice noodles. Failure. The texture was fine, but it was a bit spicy, so it irritated my mouth. After dinner I kept doing the face strap + compress routine diligently. But because of the swelling, the contour still wasn’t visible at all.. If I lay down and fall asleep, I keep coughing and waking up. I kept alternating between falling asleep and waking up until 3 a.m....
Day 6: As usual, I woke up at dawn. As soon as I opened my eyes, it was face strap + compress time. I had such a bad cough that I asked the hospital whether I could buy and take cough medicine separately. They said they’d check and get back to me, but there was no reply.. I’ll be going to the hospital on day 7 anyway, so I can ask then, but I’m so exhausted because I can’t sleep because of the coughing.. My body is tired..
Day 7: The day to remove the sideburn stitches. I still kept waking up several times from coughing at dawn Ahhh The swelling is getting a little slower to go down now. There’s still a lot of swelling left.. I heard that after the stitches come out, it drops more quickly, so please let that be true... While removing the sideburn stitches, I said that the incision area inside my mouth was so uncomfortable that if any part had healed, could they maybe remove it today too, but they said absolutely not.. They recommended gargling a lot if it was really uncomfortable. They said that would help the thread dissolve a bit faster.. Then they did the swelling laser treatment Seriously, was it like 2 minutes? 3 minutes? They basically said it was already over as soon as I lay down and told me to go, so I was flustered Then why do it at all ridiculous The doctor said he’d see me at the 2-week follow-up, so I just went home.
Days 8 to 13: Even after the sideburn stitches were removed, I still woke up puffy in the morning. But each day was definitely a little less swollen than the morning before. My throat still hurt, so I coughed badly. I bought and took Unggyesan from the pharmacy, and it helped a little. A lot of bruising had moved down to my neck under my face, but after I bought bruising ointment at the pharmacy and applied it, it had faded a lot by day 13. But the bruises remaining on both cheeks near the mouth were still a bit green Until about days 8 to 9, eating was hard, but after day 10 my mouth could open about two fingers wide, and I could eat fairly normally except for meat or chewy foods. (Ground meat became okay ㅇㅇ!) But the stitches inside my mouth still made speaking and moving very uncomfortable. Since I was less swollen than immediately after surgery, wearing the face strap became easier, so I used it more often. I developed a routine of sideburn scar ointment + skin moisturizing + bruise ointment + face strap. From day 13 onward, makeup covered the bruises almost completely. The swelling was about as bad as after getting a wisdom tooth removed. Someone who didn’t know would probably not notice. I was scheduled to go in on day 14 to remove the stitches inside my mouth!!!!!
Day 14: I went in to remove the mouth stitches and check progress. Removing the mouth stitches really, really hurt.. Still, maybe because I was already expecting a lot of pain, I could bear it. After the stitches were removed, I got swelling management, had photos and a CT scan taken, and met the doctor. As soon as he came in, he pointed out the areas where the swelling would go down, and they were exactly the parts I’d been worried about because of the swelling Looking at the before-and-after CT, it was clear that the cheekbones and jaw had become smaller and were neatly contoured. He said that this was the period when the bones start to fuse, so I should be extra careful about movement, and since I asked if the cheekbones seemed slightly asymmetric, he said that would change as the swelling went down and that it would keep improving over 3 months and 6 months. He also said that many people complain at 1 to 2 months and then go silent after 3 months. I decided that from now on, it’s just a fight against time. People say the swelling drops quickly after the stitches are removed, and that really was true that day. It seemed like the rough scar tissue inside my mouth was gradually calming down, which may be why.
Day 15: Huh; even more swollen than yesterday. My cheeks became completely puffy. I wondered if the areas where the stitches had been removed were healing and swelling more. There was also some pain in my cheeks and a toothache, so I contacted the hospital and took Tylenol.
Days 16 to 21: The areas with scar tissue stayed very puffy. There was still one stitch left inside my mouth, and that part kept swelling, with bruising still remaining. From time to time, while just sitting there, I’d get throbbing pain in the cheekbone area. Day by day, the swelling seemed to go down a little, but there was no big, noticeable change.
Days 22 to 27: That one remaining stitch kept bothering me. They said I needed to gargle a lot for the stitch to dissolve, so I bought Hexamedin and distilled water and kept gargling again to dissolve the remaining thread.. After gargling, it feels like the swelling goes down a little too, but I think that’s just my imagination^^.... When I looked at the CT at the 2-week visit, it seemed like the bones had been well refined, but maybe because I originally had a lot of facial fat, it still doesn’t show well and feels like it’s just like this. I got surgery because I thought if contouring didn’t work either, I’d just have to live with the face I was born with, so I guess I really will just live with the face I was born with
+ For those planning contour surgery.. Get scaling and dental treatment done in advance before surgery. Stock up on Pocari Sweat instead of plain water.. The 3rd to 4th day is truly, truly hard, so you absolutely need to be prepared.. I work from home, so it didn’t matter, but if you have a job or school, I recommend taking at least 10 days off, and ideally 14 days if possible. If you’re going to do it anyway, I recommend doing it while you’re still a year younger. I think recovery speed will differ (thoughts from someone in their 30s)
This review is a post-surgery review that pursues a natural-looking contour.