I’m a man in my 20s who recently had facial contouring surgery. Since I was young, I had been stressed about my large cheekbones and square jaw, so I ended up having cheekbone/square jaw surgery. If anyone is considering getting facial contouring outside Seoul, I think you can use this post as a reference! For those who live outside Seoul, it may be inconvenient to go for follow-up checks, but if it’s a good hospital, I think having surgery at a local hospital is also fine! Surgery day (cheekbones + square jaw) I was extremely nervous before surgery. So I kept talking a lot to the director and the consultant. The director only does one surgery a day, and they told me everyone at the hospital would be focusing only on me, so I felt somewhat reassured and went into the operating room. When you have surgery, you undergo general anesthesia, and I think it’s true when people say that once you open your eyes, the surgery is over. During general anesthesia, I felt a strange sensation in my arm, and when I opened my eyes, I was in the recovery room. Pain varies by person, but personally, the pain around my cheekbones was worse than my square jaw, so I received a pain-control injection. Even the cheekbone pain got better after a few hours, so I recovered quickly. The first thing I heard when I opened my eyes was the director saying the surgery went well, so I felt really good. Day 1 after surgery I had slept well and woken up, so my condition was pretty okay. Personally, having the drains removed hurt more than anything else... I ate the thin rice porridge the hospital gave me, received hot/cold packs, pumpkin juice, and a precaution guide, then went home. My condition was so good that as soon as I got home, I inhaled some porridge lol. The hospital told me not to eat dairy products like ice cream at first, but honestly, I think I ate an entire box of Together ice cream. I could feel the swelling gradually getting worse. There was no pain, but personally, even before surgery, swelling was what stressed me out the most. To reduce swelling, I think I drank about 2.5 L of water. Days 2-3 after surgery I swelled up a lot. Even with a mask on, I was swollen enough that people would clearly think, wow, that person definitely had plastic surgery. When I looked in the mirror, my confidence dropped too, and since I originally had almost no facial fat, I wasn’t used to seeing myself like this. I couldn’t wash my hair properly, so it got really oily, and I had severe flaking too. The hospital said that compared to other people, I barely had any bruising or swelling, but in my subjective opinion, I looked really u.g.l.y. Still, to reduce swelling, I think I walked 1-2 hours a day and used cold compresses. Other people also said that swelling goes down faster once you return to daily life quickly, so I think that made me do it even more. Days 4-6 after surgery The swelling stops increasing, and you start seeing signs(?) that it’s slowly going down. With a mask on, my face just looked like that of someone who had gained some weight. Still, of course, I looked ugly. My cheeks were so swollen and puffy that, exaggerating a bit, I looked like Mrs. Puff from SpongeBob. Since I went to the hospital for follow-ups for 5 days in a row, I got used to it and asked the director questions, and it was nice because he answered everything kindly. I had the cheekbone stitches removed, and it really didn’t hurt. If anything, I thought it felt refreshing lol. After stitch removal, I received swelling care, and the swelling-care specialist was also extremely kind and answered all my questions well, so I felt even more reassured. As for eating, from around this time I ate a lot of desserts, to the point where I could gently let macarons melt in my mouth. Days 7-8 after surgery I can visibly see the swelling going down day by day, but since I’m still more swollen than my original face, I still think I look ugly...^^ When I touch my cheeks and jaw, I can still feel that they’re packed full of swelling. Still, when I wear a mask now, no one can tell I had surgery, so it’s manageable when I go out. The line that looks smoother is a bonus that makes me feel good lol. They say the swelling goes down a lot at 2 weeks and 1 month, so I hope the swelling in my cheeks and jaw goes down even a little faster soon... And for those planning facial contouring, I hope you consult as much as possible with your director before deciding. Personally, I think this was a surgery with high satisfaction for me. Also, for reducing swelling, I think walking works best. Honestly, I barely took pumpkin juice or swelling medication and mostly focused on water and walking. Once the swelling goes down, I’ll come back with reviews at 2 weeks and 1 month! Thank you for reading this long post. If you have any questions, please ask!
This is a surgical review pursuing a natural-looking result.