6 weeks! Before/after pictures!

It’s been nearly seven weeks since I had surgery! I had my six week post op appointment yesterday, and once again my surgeon says everything looks great! What a relief! I worry so much some days, and the only thing that makes me feel better is going to my post op appointments and hearing from the man himself.

My surgeon said I can start progressing into my regular diet. I can already tell this is going to be much longer of a process than I expected. But everything about this is extremely sloooooooowww anyway. I ate Panda Express yesterday because I wanted some fried rice and that was a quick fix. Some of my chicken was hard to eat, and everything has to be in little teeny bites. And I was too scared to try to chew on any hard pieces, I just had to throw that away. Basically my jaw has lost all it’s strength, since the muscles were basically torn apart. My doctor just said to try to eat whatever I want, but if it hurts then to back off a little. I’m thankful to have the okay to do that!

Also while I was there, he took some “after” pictures and wants to put me in his book he shows patients at their consultation! I would say that means he is really proud of the results, and so am I!! I could never have found a better surgeon! He is amazing.

He gave me a wonderful gift while I was there….copies of my before pictures! Wow. WOW. WOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW! IT’S INSANE.

I must have looked at these pictures 20 times yesterday. In fact, I’ve been dying to make this post since yesterday afternoon but I had a lot of studying to do!

I would like to say once again, that I did not have plastic surgery. I’m certain nearly every other orthognathic patient has had at least one person that knows about their surgery assume it is plastic surgery. It is most certainly not. If you’re interested, you can go back to read in my first couple of posts about why this is a medical need and why I personally needed the surgery. Skeletal deformities cause a lot of problems, and greatly impact a person’s quality of life. If this is an experience you never have to go through, be thankful, because it has not been an easy road over the years.

I was perfectly fine with how I looked before, including with how my teeth looked. However, I was really unhappy with my bite (or lack thereof) and my sleep apnea, and just generally how I felt exhausted all the time. I don’t believe anyone has this surgery just because they don’t like how they look. There are always medical reasons that greatly impact their life, and the cosmetic benefits are just icing on the cake.

 

So here it is:

 

Here's some pictures I took at home before surgery:

Look at this dork..

Some recent pictures so you can compare:

Took this one at work when I was bored so you could see that 45 degree angle

I got no sleep last night and you can tell, but here's one from today:

 

Un-be-lievable.

Obviously I didn’t look like this in all my pictures I took for my personal life. Over the years, I learned how to pose, how to smile and which side was my “good side” haha so I didn’t look like Mr. Ed.

But, my doctor needed the “real me” pictures. So that’s what these are. This may not be that shocking to everyone that always saw me on a regular basis, because this is probably what they saw since I wasn’t in front of a mirror all the time to make sure I wasn’t looking like a retard. But I never saw myself to this extreme.

 

I’ll point out some things the doctor pointed out to me as well. Obviously you see my jaw just looks like someone came up and shoved it back into my skull. It just doesn’t look visually satisfying, if you know what I mean. My upper jaw, had a slight cant, which isn’t as obvious in the first picture, but it is obvious in one of the before pictures I took of myself. Also, I have a bump in my nose (it was broken apparently at some point in my life, I just never knew haha ) before surgery. My surgeon explained that when the upper jaw is moved, the nose looks different as well. As it is moved, it brings the tip up a little bit, which makes that bump no longer as prominent. Finally, in the side profile picture, I have one hell of a huge shnoz. I had no idea my nose looked that damn big! My surgeon said it looks like that because it is practically a 90 degree angle from my nose down to my chin, since my jaw and chin sit so far back. Now it looks like a nice nose since my chin is out where it is supposed to be. Not like a nose that is going to turn around and poke your eyes out. He said my lips are still open a lot because of my muscles being tight and that’s one reason I need to continue exercises. He also said my braces are catching them and pushing them out and that makes them stay open as well. Over time, that will change.

When he puts my after pictures up on his website, I’ll update with them!

In an older post, I went through the long story about how I had to find a new oral surgeon, and how I am thankful that happened. Well, I can say now I am even MORE thankful that happened. My original surgeon didn’t want to do upper jaw surgery on me. He said I didn’t need it, although even I knew I did. He told me if we did, I would look like an old lady because you wouldn’t see my upper teeth. Wtf. Obviously I wouldn’t want it moved up THAT much. And I can’t see how he ever planned on getting my teeth to fit together perfectly without doing upper jaw surgery. He was also obsessed with the bump in my nose. He talked about it more than my jaw surgery and how he couldn’t wait to work on it. That was a red flag to me because I wasn’t looking for rhinoplasty and he isn’t even supposed to be doing that anyway. I’m sharing all of this because I want the pre op people reading this to know that many surgeons have many different opinions and it is well worth consulting with a couple of doctors! I’m not sure what kind of Picasso painting face I would have ended up with, had I not had to switch for insurance reasons.

My numb spots in my lips definitely do not have anywhere close to their normal feeling back yet. But when I touch those spots, it feels tingly! Just a few days ago it was completely numb, so that is fabulous. My gums are still totally numb though, which feels so weird when I touch them.

I still feel like I have a little bit of swelling in my cheeks all the time. But I know I have swelling in my cheeks in the morning when I wake up, but as the day goes on, it goes down. But now that I do so much talking and I’m constantly on the go, my jaw starts to swell a little at night.

Oh yes! Correction. Those weren’t screws I felt in my face before. We looked on my xrays yesterday, and they are two little plates on each side! We also counted how many plates and screws were in my face, but I can’t remember now :( There was around 40 screws and 12 plates, I think? I have a small hardware store in my face.

I finally feel pretty much normal majority of the time. Sometimes I am a little weirded out when I look in the mirror, others I’m not. And sometimes things just feel funny. To the average person, six and a half weeks seems like a long time..and it is…for normal life. But when you’ve had your face sawed apart, and ripped open, and drilled on, and sewn up and everything else it went through…it’s a lot. And it’s a lot for your body to take on. My mom and my doctor had to remind me of this a couple of times. I guess I expected to feel normal in just a couple of weeks, but that just isn’t practical.

 

But I feel great! Not tired, great mood all the time, and just really happy!

Should I sayyy itttt?..............

 

I’m really glad I did this! :) It was well worth everything, just to feel like a normal person who gets a normal amount of sleep and has teeth that can BITE.

But, I am still not that person that says “Greatest decision I ever made and I’d definitely do it again.” I don’t know about that one. But we’ll see!

 

I don’t have to go to another post op appointment for four weeks. I’ll update next week when I go to the orthodontist for the first time since surgery and let ya know how that one goes….SCARY.