My Younger Sister’s Review - Facial Contouring

I am a female ENT doctor in a surgical field. Recently, about one month ago, my younger sister underwent square jaw and cheekbone reduction surgery. As other people do, because it was my sister’s surgery, I also thought a lot about choosing the hospital and doctor, searched extensively online, listened carefully to advice from plastic surgeons around me, and received online consultations from several hospitals. My sister is extremely happy now. It has only been a month, but before surgery, according to that director, he explained that during the first 1-2 months after surgery she would improve quickly, and then over the following 6 months she would improve little by little, almost imperceptibly. But after about 10 days she started smiling, and from after those 10 days she really almost returned to daily life. First, regarding square jaw surgery, shaving down the bone is truly not a good method. Not only is recurrence severe, but later, if some bone grows back on the left and right sides unevenly, it can easily become asymmetric. Compared with resection surgery, the effect is extremely small, and after surgery, pressure must be applied to the shaved area for a long period to reduce recurrence even a little, so in fact the treatment period takes longer. For the square jaw and cheekbones, and this also applies to all other surgical procedures, it is obvious that if the operation time is long, swelling is severe and recovery is also slower. If possible, it is also important to choose a doctor who operates quickly. In my experience, I think this is an indicator of skill level. In the case of cheekbone surgery, some plastic surgery clinics were advertising as though they offered the best surgery while only performing burring surgery (shaving) on the body of the cheekbone. But in most cases, burring surgery and osteotomy (surgery that fractures or cuts the bone) need to be performed together, so there were several points to consider. For cheekbone surgery, burring is needed to improve forward protrusion, and osteotomy is needed for the side cheekbones, and X-ray checks are absolutely required before and after surgery. This is because, in order to truly confirm the degree of reduction subjectively, it is best for both the surgeon and patient to confirm the inward movement of the side cheekbones as well. Also, after cheekbone osteotomy, many hospitals cut the bone and then fix it again, and in most cases this remains in the body forever, with metal plates or wires visible on X-rays. Many people planning surgery or who have had surgery also take this lightly or do not know about it. And in my experience, if the cheekbone osteotomy is performed too far medially, it can cause postoperative maxillary sinusitis, so functional aspects, not only appearance, must be emphasized. Cheek sagging due to cheekbone surgery is absolutely not something to worry about as long as the buccal fat pad is not exposed during surgery. In other words, an intraoral incision does not necessarily cause anterior cheek sagging. Likewise, for cheekbone surgery as well, if the surgical method is certain, I think choosing a place that operates quickly is the most reliable method. If you are dissatisfied with the surgery you received, you can sufficiently understand the result by comparing X-rays before and after surgery. However, many doctors take pride in their own surgery, and dissatisfaction is not necessarily due to a wrongly performed surgery, so I think it would be good to seek points for improvement through rational conversation. The director who operated on my sister is someone who does not even do the common online advertisements, and my sister’s square jaw and cheekbone surgery took less than two hours. There was almost no swelling on the day of surgery, but about 3 days after surgery there was some swelling, and the elastic bandage was removed after one week. When I asked why he does not advertise, he just smiled and said most patients come through referrals from patients who had surgery. From what I saw, that hospital had at least one facial contouring patient per day. I hope you choose a good hospital and get the best results. I am posting this with the hope that you will consider my advice before and after surgery, as a doctor from another department rather than plastic surgery.