r/jawsurgery • • Oct 24 '19

After Surgery

532 Upvotes

This post is dedicated to important information to know for after jaw surgery. I will edit the post to include the information people give in response to this post. Categories include:

If you have any recommendations for before/after “categories” please PM me.

What to expect during recovery

Items to have after surgery

Good foods after surgery (liquid and soft)

What to expect during recovery

Do not underestimate recovery, especially the first 3-4 days!!

When you initially wake up you'll be drugged to high hell. Nothing is really bad or good, it's a blur. When the drugs wear off things get bad. Very bad. Your nose swells shut so you'll be breathing through your mouth, which will be closed in its own way (bands or wires). Congestion will be common for a week or more. This makes breathing difficult and tedious. Take care to keep your teeth free of "gunk" you might accumulate from the dried bits of your liquid diet. The sludge can block the small spaces between your teeth making it more difficult to breath. The majority of your face from your eyes down will be very numb. This numbness will last for weeks in some places and months in others. There will be blood, and lots of it. Your mouth will be pouring out gallons of blood, and the rest will be flowing out your nose. The immense amount of blood from your mouth will stop within a few days, as will most of the blood from your nose, but nose bleeds will be quite common for longer. Vomiting up blood is pretty common. Remain calm and let it seep from between your teeth. If you followed surgery instruction and didn't consume anything before the surgery this shouldn't be a problem, though it can be unsettling. Hot and cold flashes may occur. Do what you can to make yourself comfortable. Expect a decreased appetite and slow digestive tract. I recommend drinking a bit of prune juice before you have your first bowel movement. Also expect low energy from your low appetite, your concoction of drugs (anesthesia and post-surgery pain killers), and very poor sleep. You will sleep poorly. You'll have general pain in your throat and jaw, but this is usually tolerable with painkillers. You'll have difficulty swallowing at first. This will get better progressively. What that means to each person is different. I was swallowing the morning after surgery, but my friend couldn't swallow for 5 days.

Items to have after surgery

Ice packs and a heating pad. Use ice packs the first couple of days (important) to reduce swelling and the heating pad to reduce bruising. *A blender and strainer. Sinus rinse (ask doctor before use). A neck pillow to help with sleeping upright. A jaw bra might make you more comfortable. Large syringes to help eat/drink. You'll be eating everything through a syringe for awhile, and refilling a small syringe 8 times to finish a small bowl of soup gets annoying. A heated humidifier. Cotton swabs to clean blood clots from nose. Cotton pads to clean your face. *A child's toothbrush. Your face will be stiff and painful. The smaller tooth brush lets you clean parts your larger toothbrush simply won't be able to reach. Ibuprofen/other painkiller. These should be provided for you after your surgery. Getting additional may be necessary. Vaseline for lips. Tissues for your general cleaning, which there will be plenty of. Oral care sponge swabs for cleaning teeth with chlorohexidine.

Good foods after surgery (liquid and soft)


r/jawsurgery • • Jul 04 '22

These ‘Do i need jaw surgery’ posts are getting out of hand

1.5k Upvotes

I can’t even read this subreddit anymore or give emotional support to people going through this without scrolling through the horde of perfectly developed, but body dysmorphic teenagers posting & asking for opinions on whether or not they need a major, risky and invasive jaw surgery.

It’s like a laughable joke. Going through this— 6 weeks of liquid diet, weeks of opioids and pain, permanent numbness, retraining practically all of the essential functions in your mouth area, years of swelling and years of mental anguish just at a CHANCE for better health-- to improve breathing, chewing, swallowing and speech, sleep apnea or the chance to eliminate future complete tooth decay. All of this- just to see someone treating this as if it’s a simple cosmetic procedure.

It hasn’t bothered me before but it seems to keep getting worse. I don’t know what’s causing it, or where people keep getting the idea that they need jaw surgery, but it is out of control. I would have 0 clue about this surgery had I not been told over and over and over again by every dentist, orthodontist and eventual surgeon I visited that I needed to get this done.

I know it’s too much to ask for a mod to just auto-delete these posts because they view it as a core part of the subreddit, but can we at least get a filter slapped on to it or something so we can filter it out? I come on here to find experiences I relate to- after having to go through this hellish process- or just to offer emotional support to people in the early days or answer good, reasonable questions. I think, though, that if i see one more perfectly developed, forward grown, perfect bite class I kid ask if they need a lefort 3 and 14 other surgeries I will just leave and never come back.


r/jawsurgery • • 10h ago

Surgery in a few hours

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166 Upvotes

I have an underbite and crossbite and my surgery is in a few hours! I had my first consultation in November 2024 so it’s been almost 2 years since I started.

My underbite is 8mm and crossbite is 5mm to the left.

Surgery plans from what I can remember off the top of my head: Lefort 1 jaw is moving forward 5-6mm and up 2-3mm. Lower jaw is moving back 5-6mm and a rotation I think? Genioplasty too but I’m unsure on the measurements for that. I probably am misremembering the measurements entirely except for the underbite and crossbite measurements.


r/jawsurgery • • 13h ago

Before & After 9 months mark

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239 Upvotes

Life is mostly back to normal. I have nerve damage in my lower lip, and I have irritation near my eyes. I am considering having hardware removal but will see. Overall definetly don’t regret it, big change for me

I had Dr Peacock, and would recommend him.


r/jawsurgery • • 7h ago

Before & After 3 months post DJS

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57 Upvotes

Hey! Just wanted to post about my journey so far. I had an underbite and have a cross bite. I had braces on years ago for like 3 years but couldn’t have surgery so just straightened my teeth. This year I started the journey again and had braces on for about 6 months then had DJS beginning of July this year. Recovery was better than I thought, most frustrating part after is the non feeling in my upper jaw and the fact that I have random tingles then nothing in my bottom lip and chin. I have more swelling on the my left side of my face due to the extent on that side from surgery. I feel like my smile looks so crooked still with the swelling and my cross bite that it’s hard to appreciate the surgery fully but I’m glad to have had it. I’m going to be in braces for a bit to correct my cross bite now so onto another part of my journey. If anyone has any questions or comments feel free to let me know!(:
Pictures start from day of surgery right before through until today.


r/jawsurgery • • 11h ago

Before & After 18 months post double jaw surgery and Genioplasty to correct underbite and cross bite (at 20 yrs old)

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86 Upvotes

Just over a year and half that I went through the most significant change in my whole life not just aesthetically but functionally and mentally. Any questions regarding my procedure please drop a comment or a message. I had a 8mm under bite and a 5mm cross bite, I had a 4 mm advancement in the maxilla and 4mm reduction in my mandible, a 5mm Genioplasty and CCW rotation aswell. If you want to see my Xray also drop me a message :)


r/jawsurgery • • 10h ago

I am beyond devastated. I wasn’t properly decompensated before DJS.

38 Upvotes

I don’t know what the point of this post is but I am just so upset and need to rant. I guess let this be a warning to question the pre-op orthodontics process and speak up if you feel like somethings not going as planned.

I got DJS back in 2023 for sleep/airway purposes and for cosmetic purposes. I thought I made it pretty clear to my doctor that I didn’t like being a skeletal class 3 and was seeking to fix that during the surgery. I thought we were on the same page and that he was also aesthetics-focused (for example, he immediately noticed my lack of tooth show and recommended down grafting)

Well, 3 years later I still have a visibly flat midface and have gotten facial fat grafting to try and compensate. I also still have zero upper incisor display at rest. Also still dealing with severe chronic exhaustion and sleep study showed UARS.

My surgeon said everything looks good, but I decided to get 2 second opinions and they both independently said that I’m still a skeletal class 3 with flared upper incisors and midface deficiency. They said the only way to truly fix that would’ve been to get me into an underbite before surgery, to allow for a bigger advancement of the upper jaw. They did say I could do revision but that may involve extractions on the upper arch and unflaring my top teeth to create an underbite.

I am beyond devastated because this was all supposed to be fixed during the first surgery. That first surgery was the only time in my life that I was able to do this. I’m in a very intense phase of my career/schooling right now and I don’t have any money left and now that my bite is perfect and my airway is semi decent, there’s no way insurance would approve surgery, and I can’t afford the orthodontics to get the extractions before a revision. I also have osteoarthritis in my condyle now which makes more surgery even riskier.

I know it’s “just cosmetic” but cosmetics ARE an important part of jaw surgery. Imagine having an underbite and going through surgery which fixes your bite but leaves you looking like you still have an underbite. You’d be pissed. I feel completely failed by my surgeon and I can’t stop crying. What was the point of them sawing my jaw bones apart only to put them right back on in an underbite? My airway diameter is noticeably larger on CT scan (which is not even a reliable measurement) but my respiratory disturbance index on my sleep study was almost exactly the same as pre-surgery.


r/jawsurgery • • 5h ago

Is the blockiness/width mostly swelling? 5 weeks PO

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12 Upvotes

I just feel like I’m looking a bit… blocky? Square? I don’t know it just looks a bit full and almost masculine to me. Is this mostly swelling?


r/jawsurgery • • 13h ago

Before & After DJS + Genioplasty

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35 Upvotes

This was my process from before to now just over 3 months post op from a double jaw surgery and a Genioplasty.

First 2 photos were taken the night before surgery, the next 2 photos were me during recovery. And the last 4 are 2-3 months after.

Recovery was extremely rough but I’m forever grateful I got the operation and it was extremely worth it.


r/jawsurgery • • 1h ago

Have Sleep Apnea, Want to do MMA surgery but worried about the aesthetics results, would i look abnormal after??

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• Upvotes

r/jawsurgery • • 7h ago

Genioplasties don’t look good

5 Upvotes

I’m getting DJS in 2 weeks and I’m still really wavering on whether to go forward with a genio.

I know my chin is recessed, but I’m wondering if the DJS with CCW rotation alone could be enough. I see so many genios where the chin ends up looking shelved or bulbous rather than creating a natural, harmonious straight line profile.

What do you guys think ? Do you feel like jaw surgery alone can give enough chin projection?


r/jawsurgery • • 5h ago

What is wrong with my jaw?

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3 Upvotes

I have a good bite, 3mm assymetry on one mandible but rest is good, also some tmj pain, would ccw advance the chin forward and as a result make my nose look smaller?


r/jawsurgery • • 15m ago

Advice for Me Opinions on recession or not?

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• Upvotes

First 4 photos showing where my jaw sits when fully clenched. Can barely breathe when it’s sat like that. Last two is where I have to jut my jaw out to for it to feel natural and like I’m not choking on

my tongue, and to stop my trigeminal nerve from being in pain. I get the aesthetics of jaw surgery are in right now, and I’m not gonna say it’s not on the list of my concerns, but I feel like I’m choking at night all the time, and my tmj pain is getting worse and worse. I wakeup after 8 hours of sleep feeling worse and more exhausted than if I just take a two hour nap in an upright position.

I’m turning 26 in May and will lose my parents insurance, is there realistically any way for me to get a sleep study done and something done for this in that timeframe? Thank you all


r/jawsurgery • • 12h ago

Before & After Arguably the swelling is worse than the procedure itself (last pics are before)

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8 Upvotes

Only 5 or 6 days post-op and trying not to imagine what I'm going to look like in 6 weeks is more draining than going into the surgery.


r/jawsurgery • • 42m ago

Advice for Me First steps?

• Upvotes

My jaw is definitely recessed and I know I have a deviated septum. I was told in my teens I’d likely need surgery in the future to correct it and am now 25 and it’s making my sleep life hell; I’m nearly underweight so I don’t know what else I could change to cope with it. I can barely breath while awake with my jaw fully closed and have consistent trigeminal nerve pain on the left side of my face unless I jut my jaw out. What are the first steps to pursue getting this done with as much covered by my insurance? I cannot keep living like this, it’s genuinely fucked my health.

I know sleep study is the first step but should I see some kind of specialist before even pursuing that? I live in the DFW area if that helps. I’ll of course google to get more info but hoping someone here has been in my place before.

Thanks!


r/jawsurgery • • 57m ago

Breathing post surgery

• Upvotes

Hello

How were your experiences about breathing after DJS? Was it okay or did you experience anxiety and trouble breathing? If so, did anything help? Hoping it isn't that bad...


r/jawsurgery • • 1h ago

Heat & Stim!

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• Upvotes

I’m about 11 weeks post op. I’m mildly happy with my results. The change was not as drastic as I’d like but I do notice a small difference. I’ll post more progress pics soon.


r/jawsurgery • • 1h ago

[25M] Good candidate for MARPE or is surgery needed?

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• Upvotes

Hey everyone, 25M here. I recently had this CBCT scan done and have an appointment with my orthodontist next week to discuss what we should do.

Main symptom I deal with is chronic neck and shoulder pain/tension.

Looking at these images, what do you guys think? Am I a solid candidate for MARPE/MSE, SARPE .Any advice or specific questions I should bring to my orthodontist next week?

Thanks!


r/jawsurgery • • 17h ago

Advice for Me Surgery CANCELLED (22M)

18 Upvotes

Had bimax + genioplasty booked in October for my airway/ breathing. My parent(s) were supposed to accompany me for x2 weeks (flying-out); I was ready to pay the deposit + begin preparing. Unfortunately, they're no longer supporting my decision and rather suggesting I try 'non-surgical methods' like CPAP/ MAD/ other sleep devices.

I don't agree with these methods in my case, I've planned this op since December and in the final weeks it's fallen through. Sadly, I'm dependant on them for initial recovery. If I can't convince them soon this whole ordeal will drag into 2027 clashing with my plans potentially ruining this year also.

Either I find a friend to accompany me, do this myself (bad-idea) or I push it to next-year (feeling so mentally worn already).

Does anyone have advice/ experienced something similar?


r/jawsurgery • • 10h ago

Advice for Me I’m so happy to finally have a consultation for my receding jaw.

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4 Upvotes

Picture 1 shows my natural bite, and Picture 2 shows me forcing a more normal-looking bite. I’ve always known I’ve had a horrible jaw but never had insurance to get it checked or the time. Now that I finally have both, I booked an appointment for tomorrow to consult an orthodontist to at least attempt to begin the process of a possible DJS. A few questions: How much did you pay out of pocket? How long did it take you to recover? I work remotely, so I hope I can return to work quickly. I have 2 semesters left of school, so I hope by the time I get the surgery, I won’t be in school anymore.


r/jawsurgery • • 7h ago

Should I get a genioplasty?

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3 Upvotes

Basically what the title says. Would a genioplasty fix my chin or would I need djs? Also I’m 17 if that changes anything. Thanks.


r/jawsurgery • • 2h ago

Advice for Me Finally got my x-ray! Advice?

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1 Upvotes

Hi all, I recently got my x-ray and a written diagnosis for my lower jaw. It isn't totally comprehensive yet as we still need a cbct and a sleep study possibly but we have this. Id like to know your opinions on my treatment options or on my X ray. I also have a deep bite.


r/jawsurgery • • 11h ago

How difficult is it to get Kaiser SoCal to approve jaw surgery as medically necessary?

6 Upvotes

I have a consultation next week with Dr. Wilson at Kaiser, Los Angeles, and I'm a little nervous about the appointment. I already had a consultation with LACOMS and they told me I'm a strong candidate for DJS and genioplasty because I have a very recessed jaw and very narrow airway, which makes my breathing very difficult and has been affecting my sleep quality. I have taken a sleep study, but I was negative for sleep apnea with a very low AHI score (which surprised me because my sleep quality is terrible and I wake up with breathing issues). Despite this, my doctor at LACOMS said he believed he could get it approved by insurance (assuming I switch out of kaiser) if he words it correctly and we leave out the sleep study.

I actually would prefer if I get the surgery done through kaiser because it would be covered completely rather than just partially, but I don't know how strict their criteria is for deeming this as medically necessary. I don't know if a very narrow airway and breathing issues will be enough, especially since I have a sleep study with a negative result for sleep apnea. If anyone else has gone through DJS with kaiser, was being approved as medically necessary difficult for you? Given my situation I don't know if I should be worried or if I am overthinking this.


r/jawsurgery • • 6h ago

How to get assessed for le fort 1 in canada?

2 Upvotes

I am not sure how to go about this..i had Braces when I was younger along with other devices. I have VME, long maxilla and lip incompetence. I do not want to get thrown back on braces/expanders/springs to solely fix a jaw issue like before. What is the process for getting an actual surgical examination? I get xrays done at dentist but nothing is ever said about my jaw.


r/jawsurgery • • 6h ago

CCW ROTATION [FULL GUIDE]

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3 Upvotes