Hey everyone.
This week marks 1 year ago I had surgery with Dr. Gunson. I used to post as reosity on the other forums and I feel like enough time has passed that I can share my experiences and reflect more objectively on my result. I still have a bit of swelling on my right cheek area (if you're looking straight at my face) that will take 6 months to a year to fully resolve. I think listing positive and negatives of the surgery and my feelings about my face is best.
I had long face syndrome as they call it. Class 2 bite, excess incisor exposure, gummy smile, lip incompetence, retruded mandible, steep occlusal plane, etc. I believe my upper jaw was impacted 4-5 mm and lower jaw came forward 11-13 mm. I also had some augmentation with HA done on cheekbones and the right side of my chin were there was an irregularity. Dr. G also removed the plate from the 8 mm genioplasty I had years ago.
I got out of braces mid-April.
Positives:
-Lip incompetence mostly fixed. I had a 11mm inter-labial gap at rest and it's now 4-5 mm. The upper end of normal but acceptable. My chin shows a little visible strain but it's not noticeable to others and I'm fine with it.
-Incisor exposure is normal at 2ish mm. It used to be 7mm.
-Cheek bones are very prominent now which I like although I didn't request this at all at my initial consult. Nice bonus.
-Bite is a solid class 1
-No longer have smallish airway
-Profile is solid, class 1 with a strong chin
-Gummy smile gone yet I still how 1mm or 2mm of gum on full smile. I'm not sure what woo woo magic Dr. Gunson pulled but I had 4mm of gum before surgery and he impacted my upper jaw almost 5 mm so I shouldn't have any gum showing post-op. Yet I do and for future aging that's great. I believe my occlusal plane was flattened from 104 degrees to 94 degrees.
-Everted lower lip is fixed, the posture is normal now
-I didn't have TMJ issues before surgery besides some clicking and still don't have any, knock on wood.
-I had a sliding genioplasty done in 2007 and Dr. G suspected it was contributing to my lip incompetence by pulling down on my lower lip. He removed most of he plate and it seemed to do the trick as my lower lip posture improved. I'm not sure if the plate removal is solely responsible as the mandibular advancement and occlusal flattening can also affect the lower lip.
Negatives:
-God awful recovery. First week was the most uncomfortable and psychologically distressing experience of my life, mostly because I had severe facial swelling outside the normal range. I couldn't even bite down properly the first 2 weeks because my cheeks were so swollen inside my mouth they got in between my teeth. You can see from the photo and that's not even my peak, I got a little bigger a few days after.
-Jawline is more asymmetrical and it's noticeable. Part or perhaps all of it is just my natural bone structure because as my lower jaws were brought forward, the unevenness became more visible. I also developed a callous post-surgery that is apparently contributing to the side of my jaw that's larger. I'm not sure if it's gone or not. I may in the future have an implant put in on my left side to match the right.
-Nose widened at the base 1-2 mm. This is probably my biggest complaint although I'm getting used to it. I may have alar base reduction done in the future.
-Still some residual swelling on my right cheek, very annoying.
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