Day of Surgery
It’s my first surgery so I was looking
forward to it and I was also nervous. After the surgery was over, my girlfriend
told me that it took four hours. After closing my eyes and opening them, the
surgery was already done. I experienced almost no pain after surgery and
staying fully conscious after the anesthesia was the most difficult part. I
wasn’t allowed to drink water or sleep right after the surgery… It hasn’t been
long since my surgery and I need to keep an eye on my recovery progress. The
surgery seemed to have ended safely.
2 Days Post OP
It’s been two days since my surgery. I’m not experiencing much pain, maybe it’s because the doctor is very skilled. Before surgery, I was worried since I thought it was going to hurt but I was being too worried. If I had known, I might have gotten surgery much more earlier. Having to sleep while sitting up is uncomfortable. My swelling was more severe than other people so I had to use the ice pack frequently. I heard the amount of swelling is different for each person and I’m someone who gets swollen easily. I think the swelling was the most difficult part. I will try my best to go on a lot of walks. I’m looking forward to how I will look in the future.
3 Days Post OP
It’s been 3 days since my surgery. During the first and second day, my face was very swollen when I woke up and it was difficult. However, I did not have any difficulties when I woke up today. I still cannot open my mouth properly so I’ve been having a nutritional drink and milk. I’m trying to take care of my body. No matter how much I eat, I feel like it’s not enough.. my girlfriend was next to me and took care of me. We take walks frequently and she shares my pain. If my body was healthy enough, I want to spit out the mucus in my throat
4 Days Post OP
It’s been 4 days since my surgery. Other than not being able to lie down completely when sleeping, I’m not experiencing any difficulties. Compared to the first few days, I’m able to sleep without waking up in the middle of the night. I’m sitting down most of the time so my glutes are uncomfortable. I try to go on walks to make it better. As expected, walking helps blood circulation so I think it aids in making the swelling decrease. I visited the clinic today to get laser treatment. My face did not improve dramatically, but I think it helped make my face feel more comfortable. For the compression band, I’ve been putting it on for one hour and taking it off for 20 minutes.The compression band makes my ears uncomfortable but other than that, everything is fine.
It’s
been 8 days since my surgery. I will get the stitches for my cheekbones removed
today. The stitch removal did not hurt and when I removed the compression band,
I felt refreshed. The swelling near my mouth and down my neck is still pretty
severe. I saw myself in the mirror for the first time after removing the
compression band and I can see a slight V shape on my jawline. I feel good and
the staff tell me that my face looks smaller which made me think it was a good
decision to get surgery. I want to remove the stitches inside of my mouth
quickly.
10 Days Post OP
11 Days Post OP
The
right side of my face is still very swollen. The left side of my face also has
some swelling left. The bruising around my eyes have decreased a lot. The
bruising on my neck is still yellow. When I look in the mirror, I can still see
that my face is swollen but I can still see more visible results. I can open my
mouth about half way and the feeling on my face is slowly returning back to
normal. Lately, I keep feeling that my face looks smaller and it’s fascinating.
I look at my face more often than usual.
13 Days Post OP
The
swelling under my jaw and my cheeks decreased a lot. The bruising in my eyes
has decreased but I cannot see well. I still cannot fit two fingers in my mouth
but I can fit one finger. I was worried about the recovery before I went
through surgery but I feel like my recovery gets faster every single day! I
used to style my hair to cover my facial shape in the past but now I can do any
hair styles that I want. I’m curious to see how I will look with my hair styled
after my recovery.
16 Days Post OP
I got the stitches from inside of my mouth removed. I heard that the stitch removal would hurt but it didn’t hurt much for me. I will be able to brush my teeth now and eat a bit more comfortably without the stitches. It seems as time goes by, the swelling is getting better. I’m making sure to go on walks frequently since it seems effective. I hope two months passes quickly so that I can see my results.
18 Days Post OP
It’s been a while since I got surgery and I don’t have to wear my mask anymore. When I walk around outside, I don’t think anyone can tell that I had surgery since the swelling got much better. It may look like I’m a person who just woke up and went outside? I think that’s how I look like. Of course, I still have some swelling near my mouth so I’m cautious when I eat soft foods. I went to the hair salon and also went shopping, it’s aurprising how I can walk around outside when it hasn’t been long since I had surgery.
20 Days Post OP
It seems my swelling decreases day by day but I still have swelling on my jaw and in the inside of my mouth. The inside of my mouth used to feel very tight but not anymore. Since my face got smaller, my eyes looks bigger and my nose bridge looks higher. Besides solid foods, I can eat almost anything that is soft.
22 Days Post OP
I’m still doing the cold compression for my face. I’ve looked at all of my pictures that I took from the past 22 days.It seems that starting from the 10th day, the swelling got visually better. Besides the numbness below my cheekbones and below my jaw, the feeling has almost come back completely. Today, I ate soft meat and was able to brush my teeth normally. I hope the remaining swelling can decrease quickly.
24 Days Post OP
28 Days Post OP
It’s already been almost a month since my surgery. It seems like it was only yesterday when I was eating porridge and gruel. The swelling in the inside of my mouth is gone so I can eat more comfortably now. I ate soft meat today but it was still pretty uncomfortable but I had no problems eating. To take care of my face, I still use the compression band and do cold compressions. I compared my before and after photos and I can see changes more distinctively.
30 Days Post OP
Left: Before Surgery / Right: 30 Days Post OP
5 Months Post OP
After one to two months, the bigger swelling got visibly better. The remaining small swelling seems like it will go away after some time. Some days, I may have some swellings and some days I might not. I don’t think my face is fully recovered yet since I have some slight swelling left. Other than that, I have no discomforts. People around me say that I look much younger than before and that I look easier to approach. I personally think I made the right decision to get surgery.