When I was looking for reviews before facial contouring, I was curious about recovery (sensory changes, diet, etc.) and daily life (going to work, exercise, etc.), but there wasn’t much information. So I’m organizing and posting the notes I’ve kept since surgery. I’m an office worker and can work from home twice a week, so my schedule was: Thursday vacation-surgery, Friday + the following Monday vacation, Tuesday/Wednesday work from home, and Thursday (post-op day 7) back to the office.
✔️ Day of Surgery - Right after surgery, they told me to try closing my mouth, but my upper and lower teeth didn’t touch at all, so I was flustered. The director said it was because of swelling. It would be strange for the teeth to shift just because the bone was cut, anyway. For a while, I strongly felt like my bite was off, and now at week 4 it has come back a lot. - Surprisingly, my face didn’t hurt much. People who have had orthodontic treatment will know the feeling after the braces are tightened, when the inside of your mouth and jaw ache and feel numb, and sometimes you even get a headache. That feeling stayed for a few days. - The next day, I was discharged and took public transportation wearing a cap + mask. If you want to cover your face more, a bucket hat might be better.
✔️ Week 1 - On the first day after discharge, I wore the compression band and rested sitting up. - From the second day, I stopped wearing the compression band. I was remotely watching Netflix with friends and chatting, but if I talked while wearing the band, I had to keep moving against the direction the muscles were being pulled, so it hurt too much. - I barely did cold compresses either. The hospital gave me an eye-mask-type ice pack, but it was annoying to keep placing it around my face, so I didn’t really use it. I think I split it up into about 30 minutes a day for 3 days. - From Saturday night (post-op day 2), I went on walks often.
- From day 2, a children’s toothbrush fit in my mouth, so I brushed my teeth right away. - Until around day 3, I didn’t eat liquid foods like New Care; I soaked white rice and boiled it thoroughly with tuna, Spam, and ground beef. - After that, I ate somyeon noodles in shabu-shabu broth and rice that had been soaked before cooking. - It was very uncomfortable because a spoon wouldn’t properly fit into my mouth. I forced food into my mouth. - So much food got between my lips and gums. It was almost hamster-level, half eating and half storing food, so when I gargled it made me nauseated. - Around day 9, I ate pizza, but that was overdoing it lol;
- Until around day 5, I kept waking up and falling asleep repeatedly. After that, I slept well. - I also washed my face gently starting right after discharge. I made foam, rubbed gently, and wiped softly with a damp cotton pad. - From Thursday (day 7), I went to work wearing a mask. Meals where I had to take off the mask were separate. I just ate regular food slowly. - The swelling and bruising were not the kind that could be covered with makeup. Before surgery, I asked the counseling manager whether I could go to work after one week, and she answered vaguely. - Maybe because of the general anesthesia intubation, I had a large bruise on my neck, and even when I covered it, it showed through, which was awkward. I looked like someone had been strangled.
- Until day 3, there was mild pain. My body felt heavy and limp, and I wasn’t in good condition. - Because of the intubation, my throat stung like I had a severe sore throat. - My cheekbones and jaw were itchy. - If I lowered my head, blood dripped from my nose. - When I got up after lying down, I had a strange feeling like the flesh of my face was still left on the bed and only my bones were getting up.
- Removing the sideburn stitches didn’t hurt at all. A red line was left, so I covered it with my side hair when going around. - The swelling under my chin was very bulging and hard. If I touched the hard swelling, my teeth felt sensitive and my gums hurt.
✔️ Week 2 - With my fingers held upright, one finger fit comfortably, and if I forced it, about one and a half fingers fit. - Less food went between my lips and gums. - I could eat regular foods like plain rice with side dishes and pasta well. But tough foods in them, like cooked meat, still felt quite burdensome to chew. - Even after brushing my teeth and gargling with water, I could smell bad breath, so it was distressing. Because of the things stuck between my lips and gums, no matter how much I rinsed, the smell remained. If I made an “ee” shape to expose my gums, I could smell it... Until the stitches were removed, I wore a mask because of bad breath.
- On day 13, I started light weight training. I used much less weight than usual and tried not to strain my face. The hospital told me to start after 4 weeks, but... - When I ran, it felt like the flesh on my face was shaking as if it would fall off, so I only walked. Of course, I don’t think running would actually make it sag.
- The swelling went down a lot. It just felt like someone who had been drinking or eaten something a bit salty. - When I touched the side of my lower jaw, I could feel swelling. - The day after removing the intraoral stitches, I took off my mask and went to work. There was faint bruising, so base makeup was still essential. The swelling and bruising were okay, but I hadn’t been able to take off my mask because I was worried about bad breath. - After the stitches were removed, the bad breath was gone. - All the bruising disappeared, so I went around wearing only sunscreen.
- My cheekbones were okay, but the tip of my chin was itchy. - Even if I lowered my head, my nose didn’t bleed anymore. - Removing the intraoral stitches hurt. The sideburn ones didn’t hurt, but this made me tear up a little. - On my chin, I kept feeling something like acne or inflammation that wouldn’t pop even if squeezed, was hard, and had a noticeable presence even when I stayed still. - Because of swelling, the inside of my mouth became narrower, so it still felt like my teeth were misaligned. You know that feeling after a cavity is filled, when the upper and lower bite feels awkward? It felt kind of like that, but stronger. - I couldn’t press my lips together after applying lip balm, or protrude my lips to make an “o” shape. - I had no sensation on both sides of my upper lip. It felt like leaving numbing cream on for too long. - The swelling under my chin decreased, but the hard feeling stayed the same. They said because my chin length was reduced, swelling might last longer. They said they would give me a swelling injection at the one-month mark. Seems like they usually do it. - My speech leaked a little, and because of that I spoke strangely. I would try to say, “Let’s go eat budae jjigae at lunch,” but it would come out like, “Lunch, budae eat.” Like that; I had to consciously say each word clearly one by one, like “At lunch. Budae jjigae. To eat. Let’s go.”
✔️ Week 3 - With my fingers held upright, two fingers fit. But two felt like I was forcing them in, and after putting them in, it felt stiff and sore. - I ate at a hotel buffet. It was possible as long as I didn’t have to open my mouth wide or eat tough meat. - Things that require forceful chewing with the molars, like fresh kimchi made with napa cabbage, were difficult. - Things that require opening the mouth enough, like Choco Pie or castella snacks, were difficult. I ended up eating messily. - Food almost no longer went between my lips and gums. But because of the tightening sensation, I kept having the illusion that something was stuck there, so it felt extremely unpleasant.
- I went hiking on Buramsan with friends. They didn’t seem to know I had facial contouring. They didn’t say I looked swollen either. - I increased the weight for weight training a little. About 3/4 of what I did before surgery? I also restarted cardio. Not running, but stair stepping. My cheekbones were fine, but my jawline flesh kept feeling strange, like it might fall off. - There wasn’t any special pain or discomfort from exercising.
- When I touched the side of my lower jaw, I could still feel swelling. Maybe it decreased a little? That’s how it felt. - I could press my lips together after applying lip balm and protrude them to make an “o” shape. Not being able to apply lip balm shocked me, so I kept practicing; I don’t know whether it improved because of that, or whether it naturally gets better around this time. - There was a tightening feeling in the incision areas, like rubber bands were inserted there. It wasn’t the commonly mentioned chin-tip tightness; it was just uncomfortable to move naturally. It felt like someone was tightly gripping my mouth from the inside with one hand. - I didn’t get scar tissue like the intraoral scar photos posted online. I opened my mouth and looked, and the suturing was neat. Especially the upper and lower inner parts were surprisingly neat, and I was scared to open the chin-tip area wide, so I only opened it slightly, but it looked fine. - Sensation in my facial skin was okay, but in the most protruding part of the cheekbone under my eyes, about the size of a 500-won coin, and the entire chin tip, there was still almost no sensation. My lips all came back.
✔️ Week 4 - With my fingers held upright, two fingers fit. No change. It still feels stiff and sore afterward. I’m a bit worried.
- When I touch the side of my lower jaw, I can still feel swelling. Maybe it decreased a little compared to last week? That’s how it feels. - I take a front-view photo every day with the rear camera, and it seems like the swelling is going down but also not going down. - My neck line is still bulging and hard. I’m a bit worried. It’s only a little better than week 2. - I get cheekbone pain while staying still. Rather, it’s okay when I’m eating or active, but at moments when I’m still, I sometimes suddenly get pain like being stabbed with an awl. About twice a day.
There are things I’m satisfied with and things I’m dissatisfied with about the shape, but I think it’s still too early to write a review about the shape, so I intentionally left that out. Still, even now, my satisfaction is greater, and I think the parts I’m dissatisfied with will improve over time. I’m usually easygoing and good at tolerating discomfort, so after surgery, even if something happened, I just thought, “Well, I had major surgery, so of course this would happen. It’ll get better,” and stayed that way. But I thought that if someone worries a lot, it would be really hard to endure for a month, so I wrote this in detail. I hope it helps people scheduling surgery~
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This review is a surgery review pursuing a natural look.