1-Month Review of Genioplasty Advancement Surgery at Yang Yundol

Hello. This is my 1-month review after the genioplasty advancement surgery I received at Yang Yundol Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Because I was busy with various things in early March, I am actually posting this review at the point when about 1 month and 15 days had passed. I have long been bothered by the weak-chin impression that made my chin look very set back, and by the bulging area of flesh below my lower lip when viewed from the front. Every time I took photos or looked at my side profile, I felt the weak chin and the bulge below the lip looked pronounced. So last year I went for a consultation, and during that visit the director explained that while my face looked like a weak chin on the outside, in reality my mandible was quite retruded and slightly tilted inward, which made it appear that way. Because of that, there were also combined issues such as malocclusion from the maxilla and mandible not fitting together well, so I was recommended double jaw surgery. But after reading recovery reviews written by others, I did not feel confident I could handle the recovery process, so I decided to have only genioplasty advancement. During the second consultation on the day of surgery, the director again explained that although I looked like I had a weak chin, I actually had a prognathic jaw, so if the chin were simply moved forward too much like in a typical weak-chin patient, it could backfire and make me look like I truly had a prognathic jaw. They also explained that on CT, my inferior alveolar nerve was located quite low compared with other people, so there was a limit to how much the lower face could be reduced. They said it would have come out better with double jaw surgery and sounded regretful, but still told me that since it was the option I chose, they would do their best to make me satisfied with genioplasty alone, and proceeded with the surgery. While recovering in the recovery room after surgery, I was still a little mentally foggy because the anesthesia had not fully worn off. The director came in and said the surgery went well, the chin had been advanced 7 mm, and about 5 mm of the lower face bone had been osteotomized. They said they wanted to reduce it more, but because of the nerve position they had taken a safe and conservative approach to minimize nerve damage as much as possible. I live in Busan, so after entering the operating room around 12:30, I recovered in the recovery room, left the hospital around 6 p.m., took the express bus, and arrived home around 12:30 a.m. Surprisingly, there was almost no pain at the surgical site. Instead, my throat was swollen from the tube used during general anesthesia, and blood from the nose surgery gradually flowed down and dried, forming scabs that blocked my nose. I also had to sleep with a high pillow, so on the first night it was almost impossible to breathe properly and I barely slept. Still, from the next day I used a nasal congestion spray and drank plenty of warm water, which helped the throat swelling go down quickly, and after that I was able to sleep much more comfortably. However, I could hardly open my mouth, so for about 10 days I mainly ate liquids such as porridge, castella, and New Care. Even though it was not as severe as double jaw surgery, the amount I could eat dropped sharply, and around 2 weeks after surgery I had lost about 6 kg. To reduce swelling, even walking a little at the supermarket made me feel dizzy and weak. Then around the time 3 weeks had passed, I began to open my mouth little by little, and from then on I was able to eat various foods again, which made things much better and my weight gradually started to come back. When I went in for the one-month follow-up after surgery, the director also seemed quite satisfied with the result. In particular, the area that, before surgery, the director described as looking like I had a candy in my mouth, the part I said was the flesh bulging below my lip, was gone, and the director said they themselves were very satisfied with that. Since that was also a complex I had always been conscious of, I was truly pleased. The reactions from people around me were that those I had told in advance that I would be having surgery said, when they met me at around 3 weeks after surgery, that my impression had changed. Now, one month later, when they see me, they say, 'When I saw you before, at 3 weeks, you looked a bit off because of the swelling, but now that the swelling has gone down, you look so much better.' Even relatives and acquaintances I only see occasionally can no longer tell whether I had surgery or not, because the change is so natural. I also wanted the result to improve the weak-chin feeling naturally, like it had barely changed, rather than becoming too obvious, and I am satisfied because it seems to have changed in exactly the direction I wanted.