Before<Before surgery><Day of surgery><Day of surgery 2><Day 3 after surgery><Comparison before surgery and day 3 after surgery>Hello. I’m a woman in my mid-30s who always used an app to make my cheekbones look smaller whenever I took photos. I had soft cheekbone reduction surgery on April 9, and since I had been getting information by just reading posts in a community, I’m posting this review hoping it will help people like me who are considering cheekbone surgery. As everyone considering cheekbone surgery knows, I was very concerned about the side effect of cheek sagging, so I chose a hospital with a surgical method that could be safe and allow for quick recovery.
❤Day of surgery I fasted for about 5 hours, and my surgery was at 2 p.m. I’m extremely scared of things like this, so once the day of surgery actually came, it felt like my cold hands and feet got even worse.. Still, I pulled myself together thinking about how my face would look softer after cheekbone surgery and lay down on the operating table. Oh! Before surgery, the director personally explained the surgical consent form to me. I definitely felt more reassured than at hospitals that rush through everything. It felt like they were preparing the surgery just for me. I had rhinoplasty once at a hectic hospital before, and I was so scared then.. It felt like an operating room in a marketplace..ㅠㅠ So since cheekbone surgery is bone surgery, I wanted to choose a hospital that seemed focused on me. Anyway, I lay down on the operating table, and they gave me an injection, but honestly, it was the least painful injection I’ve ever had haha. The director came in and designed while turning my face this way and that, and I think the design alone took about 15 minutes? It felt like they were concentrating with so much delicate care... But I was so nervous that my mouth kept getting completely dry the whole time I was lying there.. When you’re lying down, think about becoming prettier and try to think about something else~ Then you’ll probably feel a little less nervous ㅜㅜ Anyway, while I was thinking about this and that, the surgery was already over... The nurse woke me up, and reassured me by saying the surgery was over and it went beautifully. Honestly, that’s probably what I wanted to hear most.. They told me to go to the recovery room and sit instead of lying down, so I sat there, but I was still dizzy because the anesthesia hadn’t fully worn offㅜ I had sedation anesthesia! After a little while, they brought me an ice pack and told me to do some cold compresses, so I half-consciously applied it around my eyes. The pain was less than I expected. More than that, my face was wrapped in a bandage, so that felt tight and suffocating. In reviews, some people said they felt nauseous, but my stomach was fine. It just felt like I had a headache, a heavy kind of feeling. They said they had already given me painkiller injections too, and that it would get better after some time, but if it still hurt, I should press the bell. It was tolerable. They also brought me warm water, and while I was in the recovery room, they came in from time to time to check on me. I rested for about 1 to 1.5 hours after surgery before leaving, and before I left, the consultant explained the precautions to me once. I scheduled the stitch removal date and came home. A tip for the day of surgery: since you have to leave with the bandage on, wear a loose hooded zip-up. Rather than clothes you have to take off over your head, it’s better to wear something like a shirt that unbuttons, with a hooded zip-up. I came home, drank soy milk, and took my medicine. They said I had to sleep flat on my back, so I used a head cushion and a neck pillow. Because of the bandage, it felt stuffy and I slept badlyㅠㅠ As a tip, keep putting your fingers under the bandage near the lower jaw and stretching it. If you help the circulation, it definitely hurts less and feels less suffocating. Also, I could taste blood? going down the back of my throat. This was also something I had heard in the precautions, so I wasn’t surprised.. For me, I think I was the most swollen on the day of surgery. Because of the anesthesia, it felt like I had no sensation in my upper lip, but by the time I got home, the anesthesia wore off and sensation came back. I kept feeling like I was going to sneeze, so when I pressed around my nose, it seemed to settle a bit. I also kept feeling like yawning, but they told me to avoid it as much as possible, so I held it in really hard every time. Drinking water seems to help too haha.
❤Day 1 after surgery I think I woke up early because the bandage felt so suffocating. Since I’m an office worker, I only took annual leave for the next day and planned to go back to work the day after, so I paid a lot of attention to reducing swelling. As soon as I opened my eyes, I did cold compresses, and instead of just sitting, I kept walking around inside the house. I sat in the living room doing cold compresses while watching TV. The most important thing was that they said bruising or swelling could happen if I bent forward, so I was extremely careful. Maybe because of that, I didn’t bruise at all. During the day, I went outside and walked slowly for about an hour. When I got up after sitting or lying down, I still felt dizzy. So whenever I moved, I moved carefully and slowly. Even when I walked outside, I went slowly and carefully...ㅠㅠ I also kept drinking pumpkin juice like water. The hospital told me to be most careful with eating, saying absolutely no chewing... So I kept mostly consuming things I could drink. Probably because my energy didn’t recover well after surgery, my body felt weakㅜㅜ I ate Bonobono soup, protein shakes, yogurt, and pumpkin porridge. Even after eating and eating, I was still hungry, so I kept drinking something. Yogurt drinks, soy milk, milk...... Bonobono soup cheddar cheese flavor is good! For brushing my teeth, I could use a regular toothbrush on the front teeth, but it was hard to get it inside my mouth, so I used mouthwash for the inside. There’s a solid toothpaste from Lush that looks like a tablet. If you push that into your mouth, drink a little water, make some foam, and gargle, it feels refreshing. Or I think you can just gargle frequently. For taking medicine, it was hard to open my mouth, so I put in one pill at a time and took it. Another tip here: when eating something, stretch the lower part of the bandage with one hand, and it’s much easier to take medicine or eat. Also, because the bandage was wrapped all around, there was no circulation around my ears either, so it felt uncomfortable. When I put my fingers in little by little on both sides and stretched it, my pressed ears felt a bit more comfortable tooㅠㅠ I figured this out on my own.. I could take the bandage off from day 2, so I was counting down to the next day. I think the day after surgery was the hardest.. I kept doing cold compresses like crazy, and by evening, it felt like the swelling had gone down a lot. They said to do cold compresses only early after surgery, and after that, alternate with warm compresses. They said that helps the swelling go down faster.. Whenever I had questions, I messaged the hospital on KakaoTalk from time to time, and they tended to respond quickly. They said that after taking off the bandage, I could wash my hair and lightly wash my face too. I asked this on KakaoTalk too haha. Oh! After surgery, my lips also swelled, and as the swelling went down, my lips started cracking badly. Apply lip balm often~
❤Day 3 after surgery I developed a habit of checking my face first thing in the morning haha. To see whether it was swollen or not. It was definitely more swollen than yesterday. So before going to work, I did cold compresses for just 10 minutes and left. I think there’s a difference between doing cold compresses and not doing them. I’m still drinking pumpkin juice. Now I can open my mouth slightly, so I can brush the inside too. Oh! After getting cheekbone surgery, the outer corners of my eyes feel opened up, almost like I had lateral canthoplasty, so my eyes feel bigger. My eyes feel a bit gentler too^^ I realized it because my family and people around me mentioned it first. The pain is okay now, but sometimes I feel a tingling and stiff aching sensation.. It happens sometimes when I try to eat or randomly, and when I asked, they said it’s a symptom of nerves or sensation coming back, so not to worry, so I’m not too worried.. I had been spending time half worried and half excited while only reading community reviews, then I really decided on the hospital through my own drive and got the surgery quickly, and so far I’m extremely satisfied with the result haha. I read so many posts and even tried simulating cheekbone surgery... I tried all sorts of things, but in the end, I think plastic surgery is about self-satisfaction.. There were good and bad reviews about this hospital, but I would recommend it. It’s only day 3, but since I tend to recover quickly, if I don’t say anything, people wouldn’t know I’m only on day 3 haha.
I’ll remove the stitches next week and post another review after more swelling goes down. Thank you for reading this long review. I really hope it helps people who are considering cheekbone surgery!
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