Jaw reduction surgery

[zoe91]

It's been a long time since I posted (which was hardly ever anyway) but I have been reading lots of posts which has been really helpful. I have a very specific question though that I've not found an answer to. I've previously had some surgery (on forehead, nose and chin) which has all settled down very nicely. However I've been thinking of getting a jaw reduction as well, really just to give a bit more balance (I don't have a strong jaw but it's now more noticeable with the other surgery). What I'd like to know is how recovery from this surgery is likely to be with regard to the pain, swelling, loss of feeling and how long to get back to a normal diet? Because that's the only major procedure I'm considering it's been hard to find specific information, e.g. getting jaw done but not chin at the same time. Does anyone have any experience of this? If not then I'd still be interested to hear how you found the jaw reduction in compared to other procedures.

[keojampamd]

In general, jaw and mandible contouring are much more painful and more downtime than having the forehead contoured.  There is typically 2 weeks of very extreme mouth and jaw swelling.  Most patients are eating soft foods and return to a normal diet in 2 weeks.   Interestingly, forehead contouring and cranioplasty doesn't hurt much as the primary sensory nerve (supraorbital nerve) is transected at the area of scalp advancement.  I would be prepared to having at least 2 weeks of downtime and discomfort. This is from my personal experience with taking care of over 200 postsurgery FFS patients in the acute hospital setting.

[zoe91]

Thank you that's very helpful. I would certainly describe my earlier surgery as discomfort rather than pain so it gives me some idea. One particular concern I have though is numbness. After the sliding genioplasty that was largely gone after a month but it took a lot longer to settle down fully. Is it normal to expect the same with just the jaw reduction or is it likely to be better or worse than that? Like pain I'm sure that varies from one person to the next but maybe because I have a frame of reference now I'm wondering a bit more!

[Venusxoxo]

Honestly, the recovery isn't so bad, the painkillers help. I had mandible contouring on 5th Jan, which includes jaw and chin, along with other 4 other facial procedures. It's only when you combine surgeries is when it becomes a lot of swelling. Mandible contouring surgery defininetly causes the most swelling out of all the facial procedures, and takes the longest downtime recovery. But it's so rewarding to have this surgery, I used to have that bone sticking out on my jaw below the ears, now it's smooth and tapered, and round. 🙂