Since I was young, I had quietly been under a lot of stress because of jaw asymmetry and an overall broad-looking face shape. From the front, my left and right sides did not look completely even, and one side of my jaw looked a little more prominent. Every time I took photos, my face shape seemed to come out looking larger, so it kept bothering me. Especially when I was a student, I was teased about it in a joking way a few times, and after that, I think my complex about my face shape became even bigger. As time passed, I did wonder, “Do I really need to go as far as surgery?” But after becoming an adult, I increasingly wanted to address the part of my appearance that bothered me the most, so I began seriously considering facial contouring surgery. After looking through many reviews and pieces of information and thinking it over carefully, I decided to have surgery to correct both my chin tip and square jaw.
When I made an appointment and visited the hospital, there was still a bit of a wait even though I had a reservation. However, the hospital itself had many consultation patients, and the surgical consultation was carried out in quite a detailed way, so it was understandable to some extent. During the consultation, they looked at my face shape and explained that instead of simply reducing only the square jaw, the chin tip line should also be refined together for the overall proportions to look more natural. In particular, they explained in detail that in cases with asymmetry, rather than removing the same amount from both sides, the procedure can be done slightly differently on each side while considering facial balance, so it was easy to understand. While looking at the CT scan, they also explained my current jawbone structure and the possible changes after surgery. I was able to decide on the direction while also discussing that the look I wanted was not an excessively slim face, but a naturally refined jawline. Because the consultation itself was relatively thorough, I think my anxiety about surgery decreased a little.
I was also able to hear a fairly detailed explanation of the surgical process. They explained one by one how the square jaw resection would be performed, how the chin tip would be refined, and what kinds of changes could occur during the postoperative recovery process, which helped me understand the overall flow. They also gave realistic guidance about recovery right after surgery, and said that facial contouring surgery does not necessarily mean you have to be hospitalized for a long time or live with a blood drain. In fact, after surgery, I was able to return to daily life relatively quickly without a separate hospital stay, and since the method did not use a blood drain, the recovery process was more comfortable than I had expected.
Right after surgery, my whole face naturally felt swollen overall, and the sensation around my jaw also felt a little dull. But the pain itself was not as severe as I had worried, and after a few days, it gradually felt more stable. The swelling became noticeably worse during the first week, and after that it felt like it gradually went down. After about a week, it was at a level where there was no major discomfort in daily life. There may be individual differences, but in my case the swelling and pain subsided relatively quickly, so I thought, “The surgery must have gone well.” However, after general anesthesia, I had a slightly scratchy sore throat for a few days, but they said this was a symptom that can commonly occur during the general anesthesia process rather than because of the facial contouring surgery itself, so it was not something to worry too much about. It disappeared naturally with time.
It has now been about two and a half months since the surgery. Most of the major swelling feels like it has gone down, and compared to the beginning, my jawline feels much more refined. Of course, they said it is not the stage where everything has fully settled yet, so I do think there is still a little residual swelling, but I believe the line will become clearer than it is now as more time passes. Especially when I look from the front, the lower part of my face feels more organized than before, so personally my satisfaction is quite high. I had heard that the recovery period for facial contouring surgery is longer than expected, so at first I felt a little impatient. But now that about two months have passed, I can gradually see the changes, so I also expect that I may be even more satisfied than I am now once more swelling goes down.
Overall, from the consultation process to the surgical explanation and recovery process, it felt like everything was carried out relatively systematically. I liked that they set the surgical direction according to the naturally refined face shape I wanted. For those considering facial contouring surgery, I think it would be good to decide after sufficiently considering not only the surgery itself, but also the recovery process and changes in swelling.