Hello~

[Tom2]

I had some TMJ issues.         Correction of such even with surgery is difficult to my knowledge.      Your TMJ's take a beating when you have a surgery like I did, LF1, BSSO.    My surgery wasn't specific for the TMJ issues I had.    We didn't know if they would stay the same, worsen or improve.     They worsened for a while.    Bad.     But it has gotten better.   If I maintain the path I am on now, and gain more of the pre op opening of mouth ability, then the surgery would have been a screaming success.

[Tom2]

I had a similar thing happen at 18.    4 impacting wisdom teeth.  Two wisdom teeth stay, but 4 over all were removed.   A crow bar incident took another tooth.

Those situations messed up my teeth bad.   Braces had a hard time dealing with it......

Jamie - how are you feeling today?

[jaimie007]

I can't believe it's only been 26 days  ,feels like 3 months. IM SO HUNGRY !!!!  If i see one more bottle of ensure or blended soup again I'm going to barf 

[Tom2]

Thank you Tom! He says all he did to my chin was shorten it a tiny bit (barely noticeable) to fit in better with my jaw position , it wasn't moved. It's so awfully swollen though . How are you feeling after 4 months? Do you have numb spots? Has most of the swelling resolved? I wear a surgical mask the few times I have to step outside because I look so weird and my face looks squared shaped.


Oh and I'm in NY

My swelling is all gone.....

LOL about not wanting to remember the look.   I did have pics of me all swollen - funny to look at now.   I was miserable.

[jaimie007]

5 weeks along and still swollen , when i see my chin I'm terrified. I have a question for those that have already had the surgery though , did it happen to change your lips? My lips look weird and thinned out now , I  read somewhere that it's not uncommon for that to happen 

[Tom2]

First....its way too early to make any observations about changes to your lips.

My lower lip looks thinner (I'm 5 months post op) but thats only because my upper teeth aren't sticking out of my mouth pushing the lower lip over making it look fatter than it was.

So - give it some time and good luck with the healing!

[jaimie007]

Tom when were you allowed to eat regular foods? I'll be 8 weeks post op in two weeks , which is when they told me i could start chewing but I find out today they mean that i should chew the mashed foods I'm already eating. Mashed potatoes , soup with mushy vegetables etc. Things that could be easily squished  and continue for a few weeks before moving on to soft breads and other still sort of soft foods    . I was so excited for next week  too.  Mushy foods suck

[Tom2]

Hey Jaimie!


Time is passing - you're getting there.


Food...yea the first time they told me I could chew was a tease as it was things like mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs.   GIVE ME SUBSTANCE DAMMIT!!!

Getting back into food came with pain for me.......but it eased out.

I'm 5.5 months posts op...gaining back my weight and eating anything I want.. hambergers, cheeseburgers.......      I haven't done steak yet....

My first bite and chew stuff was hot dogs with no buns......  and they felt and tasted soooo good!

Buttered bread works too.....  its all tricky and not like before surgery when you first get back to eating but its better than that damn liquid diet!!!

I was about 3 months post op when they cleared me to chew.   YMMV.

[jaimie007]

Hah  , so in two weeks i'll be chewing mashed potatoes  that I'm already sick of. Was it painful at first , when you first started eating actual foods with texture? They did the same thing to me , you can chew after 8 weeks but they did not tell me WHAT.  I was planning on visiting 3 of my favorite restaurants in one day lol , didnt even care that my face still looks like a potato and my speech is all sorts of messed up. Plans CRUSHED .

[jaimie007]

On a happier note , this friday my ortho will be removing the hooks and changing back to my regular wire ( I still have the surgical one on ) . I'll still have some hooks left for the rubber bands im guessing , but much better than having a whole mouth full of them. So uncomfortable

[Tom2]

Oh yea.....getting the surgical wires out was really nice.   Those things caused me all sorts of discomfort.

[jaimie007]

Yes, hooks removed today! My ortho changed the configuration of my elastics so they're really tight and i feel a lot of pressure. I  feel more comfortable talking openly with my orthodontist than with my  surgeon ( maybe because I have known him for much longer  and he's a good listener).  After joining this forum I have looked through many threads  but I can't quite find anyone  I can relate to surgery wise.   Seems like altering the way their face looks  is what most were going for. I almost feel horrible saying this but I never had any issues with my facial structure , no one ever went out of their way to call me ugly ( that i know of)  or made negative comments about my features.  I went through surgery to correct my bite and sleep apnea.  I know I am only 7 weeks along today  but I almost keep regretting it daily.  I hate the way my face looks now , I'm afraid my chin will look square  or huge and my face will be unbalanced.  I told my ortho about this and he says there isn't much change to my face and that it'll go back to normal eventually . He was a little surprised my surgeon decided to tinker with my chin though . Even though  my chin was not moved he did shorten it a tiny bit to be in balance with my current jaw position.
 

[Tom2]

Yes, hooks removed today! My ortho changed the configuration of my elastics so they're really tight and i feel a lot of pressure. I  feel more comfortable talking openly with my orthodontist than with my  surgeon ( maybe because I have known him for much longer  and he's a good listener).  After joining this forum I have looked through many threads  but I can't quite find anyone  I can relate to surgery wise.   Seems like altering the way their face looks  is what most were going for. I almost feel horrible saying this but I never had any issues with my facial structure , no one ever went out of their way to call me ugly ( that i know of)  or made negative comments about my features.  I went through surgery to correct my bite and sleep apnea.  I know I am only 7 weeks along today  but I almost keep regretting it daily.  I hate the way my face looks now , I'm afraid my chin will look square  or huge and my face will be unbalanced.  I told my ortho about this and he says there isn't much change to my face and that it'll go back to normal eventually . He was a little surprised my surgeon decided to tinker with my chin though . Even though  my chin was not moved he did shorten it a tiny bit to be in balance with my current jaw position.

The facial changes will occur regardless of your motocvation for surgery.    This is tough even if the changes are good.    I know of a woman who left her family because she got attention from men that never looked at her before so this surgery and its results can have a wide range of impacts.      We also tend to inspect our own faces more than others and you may see more changes that do others in you.     

Focus on healing as you are only a  little of the way into your recovery.      I'm almost 6 months post op and looking different that I did at 4 months which was a lot different than where I was at 2 or 1 months past.       

[PloskoPlus]

The facial changes will occur regardless of your motocvation for surgery.    This is tough even if the changes are good.    I know of a woman who left her family because she got attention from men that never looked at her before so this surgery and its results can have a wide range of impacts.      We also tend to inspect our own faces more than others and you may see more changes that do others in you.     

Focus on healing as you are only a  little of the way into your recovery.      I'm almost 6 months post op and looking different that I did at 4 months which was a lot different than where I was at 2 or 1 months past.       

Everyone is different. Doctors say that for most people all swelling is gone by 12 months.  Mine was completely gone after 9.

[jaimie007]

Been a while , mainly because there isn't anything relevant to update other than I regret doing this 100%. My chin still feels/looks swollen  but whatever. Friday it'll be 12 weeks and I'm quite discouraged , my face changed for the worst and now when i close my mouth i have a chin dimple on the side (I'm praying that's just the swelling ). It's kind of devastating to know you ruined a perfectly normal face just to fix some tmj/sleep apnea issues , and also to be paying a LOT of $$$$ for it . I'm in NY , my doctor is on the very expensive side and not in network with insurances.