How should I even start this post, post, post?? First, I lived for more than 20 years not knowing I had a protruding mouth until I finished my long, long senior year of high school and entered university.
When I was in 10th grade, my mom led me to a neighborhood dental clinic and I started orthodontic treatment. My teeth weren’t that crooked, and I wasn’t really interested in my appearance at the time, but... maybe because my mom had orthodontic treatment and got prettier, she said my mouth stuck out a little too, and I’d look pretty if I got braces? I had already seen that example right next to me, so if it would make me prettier, why not I invested two years in braces, and
since my teeth weren’t really that crooked to begin with, and my teeth also didn’t move inward... it was basically a waste of money.. Back then, after senior year ended, I was doing PT because I wanted to lose weight, and no matter whether it was women or men, whenever they looked at my face they kept saying, “Oh, wear a mask You’d look pretty if you got braces!” That started to really irritate me? So when I’d go, “I already got braces!” and show them my teeth, the atmosphere would turn awkward, and that made me so angry?
Then after first semester of freshman year ended, during summer break, a high school friend said she was going to get square-jaw surgery, and that made me interested too, so I downloaded all kinds of cosmetic surgery apps. Back then there was an event? where if you uploaded a photo, the app would generate a virtual estimate for you, so I tried it too, and it said I had a protruding mouth? As I said earlier, I had no interest in appearance or orthodontics and only did it because my mom told me to, so I heard the term protruding mouth for the first time then. So I searched everywhere on Naver, Google... basically every search engine, to find out what a protruding mouth was, and
all of the symptoms were basically me My mouth didn’t close properly, I had a walnut wrinkle on my chin, I had a plain, unsophisticated look, and I heard a lot that when I was just sitting still I looked angry ㅇㅇ... That was exactly me. I wasn’t angry at all, I was just expressionless, but if I sat still I’d only hear, “Are you angry? Why is your face like that?” I swear I heard that two hundred times in my life They didn’t know they were the ones making me angry
Anyway... I had a really severe complex about my lower face, so I decided, okay, I’m going to save up and get surgery, and from then on I started deliberately searching for hospital information. I searched everywhere, from cafes to apps, and barely managed to find information (protruding-mouth surgery itself isn’t as mainstream as double-eyelid surgery, so just finding a hospital was already a hurdle) and I researched the hospitals I had listed so thoroughly I could probably tell you how many won of electricity they used in a day. At that time I looked into every place that did protruding-mouth surgery, or rather ASO, whether it was an oral and maxillofacial surgery clinic, a plastic surgery clinic famous for bone surgery, or just a dental clinic, and this place where I had surgery was of course on that list too.
Honestly, people who have looked into protruding-mouth surgery know this, but the place I had surgery was definitely not cheap, right? Among hospitals famous for ASO, if you ranked them, it would be the kind of place you wouldn’t be surprised to find near the top for price... At first I didn’t plan to do it here. The reason I ended up choosing here was that one of the major side effects often mentioned for ASO is a collapsed, pinched look. Having a protruding mouth doesn’t cause huge inconvenience in daily life, but the biggest reason people still pay a lot for surgery is aesthetic, and if the aesthetic goal isn’t met, you’re basically throwing money on the ground... When I went to the website and looked around, the thing that immediately stood out to me was that not a single person had an unnatural mouth line.
The reason it’s expensive is because chin advancement is included too. But I wondered if I really needed that... Then... looking at the photos, I understood. If you only push the mouth back, you can end up looking pinched, but it seemed like they do surgery that brings out the beauty already present in a person’s face, customized to the patient’s facial structure. The chin isn’t uniformly taken back in the same way for everyone either; since every face is different, they do it differently for each person ㅇㅇ.. So I decided on this place.
This is kind of TMI but I didn’t do it right away after deciding.. It took a very long 2 years and 6 months from deciding to actually going through with it, and I won’t say why. Honestly, I still kind of feel that way, but I’m writing a review, not my life memoir.
What I felt during the consultation was simply that I could trust them. Of course double-eyelid surgery is surgery too, but since this is surgery that deals with bone, if you don’t trust the doctor even a little, the patient has no choice but to stay anxious the whole time. I’m the type who worries excessively on purpose, but during the consultation they made me feel comfortable and spoke professionally about what would happen if this was done here and that was done there... it just felt trustworthy, so I didn’t even go to consult the other hospitals on my list and decided to have surgery here. Once you set a surgery date, you have to do all kinds of tests, and they also test what’s needed for general anesthesia? sedation anesthesia? Anyway, they do those tests in radiology, and there are a lot of things like dental X-rays and so on, so anyone planning this surgery should make sure to schedule it when they have plenty of free time I also had a fair amount of under-eye fat, so I think the cost I paid was for under-eye fat removal + ASO.
On the day of surgery, I wasn’t thinking much at first, but right before general anesthesia I got a little scared because I had never had general or sedation anesthesia in my life. I kept thinking, what if I wake up during surgery? What if the anesthesia gas doesn’t affect me well?;; Then I thought, what if during surgery I...<I lost consciousness> and when I came to, I only remember being in the recovery room. I went with my mom, and she said about two hours had passed.
From here on, the kind of post-op struggle record you only see in a real detailed review... I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the professional nurse who took care of me in the recovery room once again...
The pain honestly didn’t feel that severe. But what was hard was... I was so sleepy I felt like I was dying, but they said I couldn’t sleep. They said they had to let the anesthesia gas out. And the hardest thing was that they wouldn’t give me water. I felt like I was going to die, like I was going to dry up and die, and my surgery ended at 4, but they said they’d give me water at 7. Of course, I understand in my head that it was about patient safety and all that... it’s a very reasonable manual, but I felt like my throat was burning dry and they weren’t giving me water, so I hated it so much (sorry, but I couldn’t judge rationally then) So when 7 o’clock came, I drank water... they also gave me an ice pack, and when I had to go to the bathroom, the nurse, the head manager, and another nurse all supported me and took me to the bathroom... The pretty manager who always greeted me kindly at the front desk turned out to be such a dependable person.. Also, I had to sleep with my bed at a certain angle? Higher, kind of.. probably because of the swelling.. anyway, it was an angle that was neither sitting nor lying down, but it was soft, and the nurse brought me a soft pillow too and took good care of me, so I think I was able to rest comfortably that day. But......... Not being able to pick your nose is really a torture... My nose was so completely blocked that I couldn’t breathe through it. It felt like a huge, sticky, hard booger was clogging my nose tight. Can you all not relate.........?
Anyway, the first day ended like that.. and I was discharged the next day. On the way out, the manager explained a bunch of precautions, gave me mouthwash, and I went home with the Newcare I had ordered in advance for after surgery, and then ate with that... kept applying ice packs...
And then about a week after surgery, they removed the tape, and from then on they said I could eat regular food cut into very small pieces. I let loose then I stopped by Janggung Station and bought castella and ate it, made steamed eggs and ate them. It was such a relief there wasn’t someone else eating with me in front. I ate by tilting my head while pushing the small pieces back with my molars, and wow... then I bought spicy sausage skewers and fish-cake bar things or hot bars at a convenience store, microwaved them, cut them up and ate them, ate bread too... I ate everything except hard food. I usually don’t have much of an appetite, but once food restrictions were forced on me, my appetite shot up.
Then around week 2, they removed the stitches, and that really hurts a bit........ After the stitches came out, my mouth line somehow felt a little more natural?? And now, as I’m writing this review, it’s week 6 so they removed the wires, and I feel like I could just fly away ^-^ Some people get orthodontic treatment and some don’t, depending on the person, but I’m going to decide after consulting in May!
The swelling still hasn’t fully gone down yet (it hasn’t even been 3 months, when the big swelling supposedly goes down to some extent), so I still can’t take a new ID photo or passport photo, but once spring fully arrives and the swelling goes down, I’m going to take pretty pictures and replace every photo, including my driver’s license, with new ones
The changes after surgery: first of all, I got away from that unsophisticated look and I love that so much. My walnut wrinkle also doesn’t appear when I close my mouth. And because my mouth stuck out a lot... when I did makeup, I had to be really careful with lipstick, you know? If I used nude lips or gradient lips like other people... it would just advertise my protruding mouth, so I only bought matte, dark colors and all that (trying to make protruding lips look like a concept) But now I can just put on any tint and it looks pretty.. Before, my blank face looked angry; now I really like that it has some atmosphere too..
And what I like most is... people with protruding mouths will relate. You guys can’t relate to the phrase “people are prettiest when they smile,” right? I was like that too. I was uglier when I smiled You can tell from the photos^^^ But now I can smile in front of people without covering my mouth. Now I get told that my smile is pretty..
I wrote this as a review but it feels like I wrote an essay with no nutritional value If anyone has questions, leave a comment!! I might reply late, but I’ll definitely answer you.
p.s. My under-eye fat removal turned out insanely well (this doctor is amazing... it feels like they sucked the fat right out. My eye swelling went down in less than a week) but it’s a shame I can’t show that If I don’t cover my eyes too, then I’m basically showing my whole face, so it’s like... something else..
And once again, from the consultation stage all the way to now, thank you so much to the doctor who was professional the whole time, put my mind at ease, did the surgery so well, and provided perfect aftercare (I feel like I was reborn....... literally...), and to the wise and beautiful manager who answered all my persistent questions after surgery with clear, easy-to-understand explanations and eased my anxiety, and to the pretty nurse with the charming dialect who took care of me. Thank you all so, so much............. I don’t know if you’ll see this, but I hope this feeling gets through.