Surgery with Arnett 10/11

[x]

In 3/4 view you look a bit like Angelina Jolie now (srs)

[pekay]

You look amazing that is for sure

What did you have done? maxillary impaction and HA augmentation to the cheekbones and orbital rims?

How long were you in braces for (pre-op) ?

[x]

Yeah your cheekbones look similar to mine in having that groove from cheekbone to mouth at 3/4 view, but lacking forward projection. Would be interested to know how that area improved so much!

[Antbee]

thanks for the kind comments. Really helps as still weirded out by how different I look honestly. Seeing candid photos freaks me out the most as I don't recognise myself at all from some angles.
So to answer the Qs:
I had 5.8mm upper jaw impaction and my lower jaw rotated up 5.8mm
My upper was 3-piece segmented to widen and was brought forward 2.2mm (I think)
Lower was brought forward 2.4mm
Chin was brought forward (not sure how much)
I was in full braces to decompensate my bite for five months pre-op - but I have had four sets of braces and was already in braces on the inside of my upper teeth for a year when I made the surgery decision.

Dr A used a lot of HA paste under my eyes - orbital rims, cheekbones and lower jaw angles. It's remarkable he was able to do any of this but he was especially pleased with the under-eye area. For sure I needed that extra projection in my face as it was so flat before, but also to 'take up the slack' I think since my face is so much shorter now. I do think I look a bit older, but others have told me I look younger. It's weird, my skin wrinkles more around my eyes now because I have cheeks. Anyway, I think it was so so worth it, although like I said, getting used to a new face has been much weirder than I thought it would be.

[Antbee]

Oh I also thought this might be interesting. It shows how much longer one side of my jaw is than the other (most likely due to childhood accident when I broke my lower jaw). You can see how DR A moved my jaws sideways to try and make my face more symmetrical. Perfect symmetry basically never happens but considering the discrepancy he started with, he's done amazingly to make me look more even-jawed.




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[Kristen]

You look really great.....so glad to hear about the better breathing too!

[SGseeker]

Hi Antbee! How are your HA grafts holding up now a few years later ?

Hope you are happy! Please post some photos of you now if you can. Thanks!!

[Antbee]

Hi SGSeeker - haven't been on here in forever but happy to update people on the experience of being 2 years 9 months post op. After double jaw and genio with multiple HA grafts by Dr Arnett I was very happy with my results. At this point things have settled a bit and any residual swelling is finally gone (took over a year). I still have numbness in my chin and gums, my scar tissue is still tight and has to be stretched with exercises. Some asymmetry returned with the decreased swelling but that's to be expected and is nothing too bad. The HA grafts remain as solid and set as they were. After 8 weeks they truly become a knitted part of your own bone. My jaw clicks on one side now when I open it (it didn't before) but that's a small price to pay and it's not painful or constant, just occasional. My bite is still perfect. I required equilibration treatment from a Dr Arnett-recommended dentist - they file some teeth down and build others up to fine-tune the bite. That was expensive and boring but it's ensured my bite is perfectly stable and solid. My chin hardware from the genio had to be removed a few months ago as my lower lip was postured a bit low and I felt it was dragging. Dr Arnett had encouraged more stretching exercises but honestly I wasn't the best at doing those enough and dr Gunson suggested removing the chin metal as sometimes it gets 'caught up' in the muscle. I'd had Botox from dr G to freeze my chin muscle and try and make it move evenly but that didn't change much so he removed the metal under anaesthetic in the office. I was swollen for four days but fine. That surgery slightly changed the appearance of my chin and lower lip. My chin got slightly flatter, my lower lip turned in a tiny bit- very subtle changes. Dr G says he can do a procedure to make my lower lip turn out again (it's caused by the extra scar tissue and muscle positioning). I'm not too bothered though- but will ask about it at my next appointment. The lower lip being too low - too much lower teeth visible- is sort of unavoidable in my case as I needed so much impaction in my upper (5.8mm). Dr G is also looking into possibly shortening my chin with a genio revision but I probably won't do it, it's not necessary and can cause slack skin (no one wants that!!) I'm now 39 years old and despite all the impaction I've had, my skin is holding up well - probably due to all the HA I had, which helped pick up any slack! Any questions- I'm happy to answer them! Going to try and post photos for you guys in a sec

[Antbee]

Here are some pics- front and side. Then he before and after of my chin following hardware removal. You can see that the after shows a flatter chin and slightly smaller lower lip- as explained in previous post

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[Lazlo]

I think you look very beautiful Antbee. Thanks for sharing all this.

[Serra]

Has your lip stayed the same (turned in) over time?

[Lazlo]

How on earth do you look so young for 39!!?? Please tell me have you had any skin resurfacing or filler or Hylauronic acid treatments or do you use special creams or lasers!!??

[terry947]

How's your jaw functioning though? Are you able to chew hard foods like steak no problem?

[Antbee]

Laslo- thanks so much for the kind words! Although my friends thought jaw surgery was plastic surgery of some kind, no I haven't done anything. Just retinol cream at night, sunscreen in the day:)
Serra- my lip turned in a little immediately after having the metal removed from my chin. It's the same but improves slightly when I do my stretching exercises.
Terry947 - like I said, my jaw clicks on one side occasionally but otherwise function is 100%.

[Serra]

What is the procedure to make the lip more out?