When I was young, my face shape was just ordinary, but as malocclusion developed, my square jaw developed and I got a protruding chin.
I was routinely told I looked older / masculine, and I even heard male seniors I knew say I looked like an older woman...
Anyway, I had decided on facial contouring from about 3 years ago, and because I didn't want to ask my parents for money, I saved hard while going to school and working part-time here and there. (I saved money like a real cheapskate for almost 3 yearsㅠㅠ) And when I had saved about 7 to 8 million won, I got it done.
1. <Hospital selection> As you know, facial contouring is a really major surgery. First, it took me almost a month just to dig through information online. Then I became able to distinguish brokers from real reviews to some extent, and in that way I narrowed it down to about 15 hospitals and visited them over a week, 2 to 3 places a day?
At first I was thinking cheekbones + jaw, but as I went around, there were places where the surgery fee was very, very cheap, some hospitals told me to do my jaw, cheekbones, and nose all together, and some places didn't examine me properly and just talked only about the areas I mentioned.
But a few hospitals asked not just where to operate, but what I had been unhappy with in daily life and what kind of impression I wanted. And while considering the harmony of my face, they said if I did the cheekbones too, my face might look even longer, and that cheekbone surgery is a very major surgery, and that instead, if I did my jaw and placed just a small implant beside the nose, I could get away from the complex I was currently experiencing. They explained it like that.
I think about 3 places spoke to me like this. So I came to trust these hospitals and chose one among them. It was almost 2 million won more expensive than the other hospitals, but because it was such a major surgery, I decided because I thought I needed a place I could fully trust and that could take care of me.
Originally, the director said to try just the jaw first, and that the implant beside the nose could be placed later after seeing the progress, but I insisted on doing it together lol..... I just wanted to get everything over with quickly ㅠㅠ (But I recommend to everyone that for any additional procedures, you should do them after facial contouring, after checking how your face changes.
2. <Surgery> The surgery date was set, and because my parents and friends were in another region, I went to the hospital alone for surgery. (I recommend going with someone if at all possible... because it's lonely and scary ㅠㅠ lol) Before I knew it, the surgery time was approaching, and maybe because I was nervous, I kept giggling until right before anesthesia.... (I fell asleep after even hearing the nurse say... uh... this patient keeps smiling...) And it felt like less than 1 second after falling asleep when I opened my eyes; I couldn't see in front of me, I could feel my face was very swollen, and it was hard to breathe.
From after surgery through that night I spent at the hospital, it was the longest... longest, longest day of my life. It felt like 1 minute was 1 hour. It was so, so hard, breathing was painful, I couldn't lie down or sit up, my whole body was exhausted, but they said I absolutely couldn't sleep until the anesthesia wore off normally. To the nurse who was assigned to care for me that day beside me, I got irritable (I'm sorry ㅠㅠ) and whined, saying let me sleep!!! I'm angry, it's too hard!!!ㅠㅠ
On top of that, I had to drink water little by little, but it wouldn't go down my throat at all and my throat hurt so, so much, so I drooled out all the water the nurse gave me.... Still, the nurse kept making me drink, saying I had to drink even a little to get betterㅠㅠ And mucus + bloody discharge kept going down the back of my nose, so I had to keep spitting out phlegm.
Even now, when I think of that night, it's horrifying, and if someone told me to do it again, I absolutely couldn't. That day passed like that, and I was discharged the next day. I was originally supposed to leave in the morning, but thankfully the nurse let me rest until the afternoon ㅠㅠ
3. <Recovery and current life> Until 1 month, I was just extremely swollen and ate things like thin rice gruel or pumpkin porridge every day. I think the swelling kept going down until 3 months, and even now my anterior chin feels about 20% firm. And my mouth doesn't open 100% like before, maybe about 70%?
Before surgery, I saw many posts saying sensation doesn't return after facial contouring, but fortunately I didn't have that side effect at all. Even right after surgery, I could feel everything when touched.
But during the 3 months while swelling was going down, my jaw seemed bumpy, and the implant placed beside my nose protruded too much and made me look like a bulldog, so I was so, so scared and regretful, worried that I had paid money for surgery and it had gone wrong.
Even when I asked the hospital, they said the swelling still hadn't fully gone down and the muscles were tight, and told me not to worry, but my mental state was in tattersㅠㅠ Of course, now everything has gone down and it's in a normal state hahaha....
And what really changed is.. A little while ago, a 20-year-old guy told me he thought I was the same age as him. When I dyed my hair black, when registering at places or things like that, people asked if I was a high school student. (It's annoying bragging, right? ㅠㅠ Still.. I lived for over 20 years being called older-looking/masculine, so please understand haha..!)
And more than anything, I can now face people with confidence, and these days I'm really feeling the fun of dressing myself up.
4. <What I want to say lastly> If there are people thinking about surgery simply because they have a bit of a jaw or because their jaw isn't the slim shape that's trendy these days, I sincerely want to stop them.. And I want to tell them to first lose weight or get something like jaw Botox. (You might think, you did everything yourself and now you're telling others not to..ㅠㅠ, but I really mean it.)
But if you are truly like my past self, hearing a lot in daily life that you look masculine or like an older woman, getting hurt a lot, and feel this face shape will be a lifelong complex that's hard to overcome, then I hope you research hard for at least one to two months before having surgery.
It's that hard, costs a lot of money and time, is mentally difficult, and above all there are cases where it goes wrong, so I don't think it's something to decide lightly at all.
Everyone considering surgery, stay strong!!!
Like 3