So satisfied from consultation to surgery (a really long cheekbone surgery review)

I’ve been very stressed about my face shape for a long time. My features are on the smaller side, but there is a lot of empty space, so whenever I looked in the mirror, I felt my flaws stood out even more. What bothered me most was my cheekbones. My zygomatic arches were prominent, so even though my face itself wasn’t large, it looked much bigger. In everyday life, I tried desperately to hide it with glasses and my hair. My appearance complex was so severe that there were many times I couldn’t make eye contact with people or felt unnecessarily intimidated, and to fix that, I started looking into contouring surgery. For the first few months, I spent hours every day searching for hospital information and surgery reviews through apps and cafes. I looked through almost every review. At first, I planned to do another surgery and contouring at the same time, but I felt uneasy about it. Hospitals like that are often the so-called factory-style clinics, with multiple directors or one surgeon handling too many procedures. I wanted to be operated on by a more specialized doctor, and that’s how I learned about this clinic. It was a contouring-specialized clinic, the chief director personally performed the surgery, and the review photos looked good, which drew me in. People with cheekbones similar to mine also had very clear and natural-looking results. I kept looking into many other hospitals afterward, but nothing pulled me in the way this place did. So, though it may have seemed reckless, I didn’t apply for consultations anywhere else and only went here. Once I make up my mind, I have to do it or I can’t rest easy. As you can see from the photos, besides my cheekbones I also had square jaw and a receding chin. So my face was the kind that most people would recommend for a three-procedure contouring surgery. But I actually liked my square jaw, and since I was in orthodontic treatment, I didn’t want to touch my jaw. Even when I spoke with the consultant, I said I had no plans for anything besides cheekbone surgery, and both the consultant and the doctor only talked about the cheekbones. They could have casually recommended something else at least once, but they didn’t do that at all. When I met with the doctor, I had only booked the consultation on a whim thinking, “I just want my cheekbones to stand out less!” so I didn’t have celebrity reference photos or a specific desired shape. Then the doctor personally looked up photos and guided me toward a direction, asking how I felt about it, and we decided to put in as much as possible. The doctor said I was the type who would get a good result from cheekbone surgery. They said that to a few people who seemed likely to show a clear effect, and they also added, “of course, only if you want cheekbone surgery,” which increased my trust. When I asked whether orthodontic treatment would be okay, they said there had been very rare cases where it supposedly interfered with orthodontics as a side effect. But even listening to that, it sounded like such an uncommon case that I didn’t really understand what they meant, so I just went, “Mm-hm,” and forgot about it. Anyway, I was glad they told me things like that. They also asked whether I wasn’t worried about hollowing in the cheeks or sagging, but cheekbones stressed me out more, so I didn’t listen to the detailed explanation and moved on. I had already researched so much before coming that I was a little sick of it too. The cost was the same as the event price, and I paid the deposit right away and left. Also, I didn’t ask separately about CCTV, but on the day of surgery they asked me first whether I wanted to watch the CCTV, so I signed the consent form too. When I said I lived far away, they said I would need to go home early anyway, so they scheduled the surgery for 10 a.m. I felt that this was a hospital that really considered the patient. I wasn’t nervous at all until right before the surgery. Honestly, it didn’t feel real. But on the day, when I changed into the surgical gown and was washing my face, I felt a little heavy-hearted... and once I entered the operating room, I suddenly got very nervous. I think someone there told me not to be nervous, but I was so tense I can’t remember well. When they attached something to my arm and inserted the line? and then administered the anesthesia gas, I lost consciousness before I even had time to count numbers. I first came to in the recovery room about two hours after entering the operating room. I vaguely remember being told not to lower my head while going into recovery, and when I first woke up, the nurse? took out my phone and handed it to me, saying I wasn’t allowed to sleep. At that time, my face was unbelievably swollen. It was hard even to open my eyes. I tried not to sleep, but eventually did, and about an hour later I woke up again. While using my phone and taking deep breaths to get rid of the anesthesia gas, the swelling gradually went down. By the time I was discharged, only my cheek area was swollen overall, and the rest was okay. About five hours after the surgery started, I had a CT scan and got ready to meet the doctor. While changing clothes, I bent my head and got a nosebleed once, and the CT had to be taken again because it was shaky, probably because the anesthesia was still lingering. I felt awkward and sorry, but they kindly guided me through it again. The doctor said the right side was a little more swollen but would get better, and I think they showed me the CT images too. At the front desk, I received a paper bag containing a sheet with precautions, a cold pack, a small bottle of water, and so on, then went down to the pharmacy on the basement level. I got the medication, waterproof bandages, and Hexamedine gargle prescribed, then went home. In the reviews, everyone seemed to be wearing compression bands, but I was told I didn’t need one. I don’t know why, but anyway I was happy. So I didn’t wear the hat I had prepared either, just put on a mask casually, transferred once on the subway, took the train, and went home. My hair was a mess because it had been tied up for surgery. I had worried a lot about whether it would be okay to go by public transportation, but surprisingly I felt completely fine, which caught me off guard. I’m the type who falls asleep as soon as I get on a train, so the only thing was that I bent my head and had a nosebleed a few times? But since it was blood and disinfectant fluid that had pooled during the surgery coming out, I wasn’t worried. They also told me to drink water after three hours or five hours, but I hardly ever drink water, so I wasn’t thirsty. I didn’t mention pain at all because I had none. It feels a bit awkward to say only good things, but I really didn’t have any. The only things were that my cheek area felt oddly sore on the day of surgery, and that for several days I felt the sensation of my feeling coming back. In terms of how it felt, it hurt less than when I had impacted wisdom teeth removed. Even when the stitches were removed, the wisdom tooth stitches hurt more. It was uncomfortable sleeping while sitting up, but I never woke up because of pain, and although they told me to take Tylenol if it hurt, I didn’t take any painkillers separately. They asked me to contact them once I got home on the day of surgery, and even the next day they asked whether I was feeling okay, but I was so fine that their kindness almost made me feel embarrassed. The only discomfort was having phlegm stuck in my throat for several days. One day, while walking, I suddenly got my breathing blocked by phlegm and was startled. For about five days, blood was mixed in with the phlegm. After a little over a week, it all disappeared. Because grease on the sideburn wound is worse for it, I put on a waterproof bandage and even showered about three days later. Honestly, this was the most painful thing from the contouring surgery. My hair stuck to the bandage... anyway, even with a waterproof bandage, it isn’t completely waterproof because of the hair. So after showering I lightly disinfected it with an alcohol pad, dried it thoroughly, and applied the medicine. Before removing the bandage, I was a little scared the surgical wound might be large. The bandage was bigger than my ear. But the wound was smaller than I expected. While writing this review, I checked and it was about 1.5 cm, and I was amazed by the skill involved in performing surgery through such a small area. More than anything, even on the day of surgery, it was obvious that the cheekbones had already been reduced a lot. As for eating, for the first three days or so I ate liquids, then soft foods, and anyway I ate well by dissolving food in my mouth and mashing it against the palate. I was worried about my orthodontic treatment, so I also gently brushed only the front teeth with the baby toothbrush they gave me. Around day 10, I was showering without waterproof bandages, and after the second week I was brushing my teeth and washing my face normally again. Around one month later I had a dental appointment and had been worried, but my mouth opened perfectly fine, so I went without postponing the appointment. I can even eat meat... haha. When I put on makeup near the cheekbone area, it still feels painful, and the only thing that feels different from normal is that I can’t run because I feel impact around the cheekbones. But these days I haven’t been walking at all, so the swelling hasn’t gone down. I’ve even wondered whether I just gained weight. They told me swelling can take at least six months to a year to fully go down and not to stress about it, so I’m really not worrying about it. Around week one, there was some hollowing in the cheeks because of the swelling, but now, at one month, it has improved a lot, and I think it will probably disappear once all the swelling is gone. If I ever end up wanting jaw surgery too, I would still choose this clinic even if it’s a bit far. That’s how satisfied I was with both the result and the process. Of course, I might recover faster than others, and this is just my personal review, so please use it as reference only. Also, before surgery, when I opened my mouth wide, the bone in front of my ears stuck out a lot. That was another source of stress, but for some reason it got better after the cheekbone surgery. After surgery, while watching videos from another hospital on YouTube, I saw someone say that for contouring surgery, the incision should be made in the middle of the sideburns or behind them. That way, the area behind the cheekbones can be operated on properly. I checked my own surgical site out of curiosity, and it was behind the sideburns, so maybe that’s why. Anyway, this was something I hadn’t expected, but I’m extremely satisfied. Now, even if I open my mouth wide, I don’t worry about it, and I’m glad I no longer have to fight the wind to protect my hair. If someone around me is thinking about contouring surgery, I would recommend this clinic.