So I've had full ffs 3 months ago and am generally happy with the results but I was wondering about how long it would take for some of the swelling to go down. 

Mainly the nose and jaw areas.  Most of the swelling in other parts of my face has pretty much settled in but I've noticed that the tip and base of my nose still feels and looks swollen.  I know they lifted the tip of my nose up a tad and they did some work on the bridge but i don't think they actually narrowed or worked on the width of the nose.  From a side profile, my nose looks fine but from the front, it looks somewhat wide at the base.  I usually use some contouring and my nose looks fine but in the morning, it looks huge to me.  For those of you that had rhinoplasty along with ffs, how long did it take for you see/feel that the majority of the nose swelling went away.

I am thinking about getting further rhinoplasty but hoping I don't really need it.

As for the jaw, it still feels swollen and numb as well. The area around the cheeks feel and look swollen, almost like I have jowls or something.  Being that I am pretty skinny, I don't think it is my weight that is causing my face to look somewhat swollen.

Here are some photos of the nose and jaw areas, sorry for the low quality, using a webcam with poor lighting.

https://imgur.com/6z6E4vG
https://imgur.com/bnBIbs3
https://imgur.com/ijqNbbP

I have always thought the nose area took the longest for the swelling to subside. Along the line of a full year?
Wish I could give you a more specific time line of what to expect at 6/9/12 months in terms of percentage.

See post 2 in this thread for jaw area.
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,229536.0.html?PHPSESSID=svqip5ok7a8ihdvumhfkvp4ql6

Looking at your pics I just thought "who's this cis girl posting about ffs!". Lol and I read your post too! But to get back to your question, I don't know what your nose looked like before to say. Now my nose, it's bad. I've always wanted a nose job and now that I'm finally transitioning I think I'm going to wait to get FFS with a nose job.

Quote from: AlexisRene on October 17, 2017, 01:13:59 AM
I have always thought the nose area took the longest for the swelling to subside. Along the line of a full year?
Wish I could give you a more specific time line of what to expect at 6/9/12 months in terms of percentage.

See post 2 in this thread for jaw area.
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,229536.0.html?PHPSESSID=svqip5ok7a8ihdvumhfkvp4ql6

Thank you, hopefully I won't need a revision if the swelling goes down significantly but so far I'm not so sure. 

As for the jaw, the surgeon in the post you linked mentioned that about 80% of the swelling should be gone by 4 months, if that is the case, I guess I'm not doing too great, lol.

Quote from: dist123 on October 17, 2017, 03:47:52 AM
Looking at your pics I just thought "who's this cis girl posting about ffs!". Lol and I read your post too! But to get back to your question, I don't know what your nose looked like before to say. Now my nose, it's bad. I've always wanted a nose job and now that I'm finally transitioning I think I'm going to wait to get FFS with a nose job.

Thank you, that is very nice of you to say.  I just wished that I could see what you see in those photos, lol.  As for getting a nose job, i totally agree.  From what I've read and researched, getting a nose job along with other ffs procedures together leads to a better and more aesthetically balanced look due to work on the brow and orbital areas of the skull along with other areas.

As to what my nose looked like before, I had to look at an old photo and wow I looked terrible, the surgeon did an amazing job changing what they needed to change.

looks like I missed the pics, dead links.

That being said, I don't feel like I had too much swelling in the forehead and the nose didnt look too bad either after the first couple weeks.

But I did have some weirdness swelling around the eyes (not noticeable visually) that apparently was making it difficult to completely shut my eyes at night and my eyes were drying out. Kind of weird.

Quote from: Debra on October 19, 2017, 07:25:37 AM
looks like I missed the pics, dead links.

That being said, I don't feel like I had too much swelling in the forehead and the nose didnt look too bad either after the first couple weeks.

But I did have some weirdness swelling around the eyes (not noticeable visually) that apparently was making it difficult to completely shut my eyes at night and my eyes were drying out. Kind of weird.

Hey Debra, sorry for the late reply but I haven't checked Susan's for awhile.  Sorry, I only kept the pics for about two days before removing them and deleted them from my computer. 

As for the nose, its been close to 5 months since my surgery and it still looks like the swelling at the tip hasn't gone down at all and still looks huge. Along with swelling in my jaw, it's  causing me to get really depressed and making me really unhappy whenever I look in the mirror. 

Anyway, you mentioned that you had swelling around the eyes, did you get blepharoplasty?  I didn't have that procedure and never had any issues with swelling around my eyes at all, even right after surgery. 

My surgeon has asked me for pictures and told me that if they felt there were any revisions that I might need or want, they would do it free of charge and genuinely seemed concerned.  Unfortunately, due to the cost of travel and time required...it's not really an option.

Quote from: Justarandomname on November 05, 2017, 08:50:12 AM
Hey Debra, sorry for the late reply but I haven't checked Susan's for awhile.  Sorry, I only kept the pics for about two days before removing them and deleted them from my computer. 

As for the nose, its been close to 5 months since my surgery and it still looks like the swelling at the tip hasn't gone down at all and still looks huge. Along with swelling in my jaw, it's  causing me to get really depressed and making me really unhappy whenever I look in the mirror. 

Anyway, you mentioned that you had swelling around the eyes, did you get blepharoplasty?  I didn't have that procedure and never had any issues with swelling around my eyes at all, even right after surgery. 

My surgeon has asked me for pictures and told me that if they felt there were any revisions that I might need or want, they would do it free of charge and genuinely seemed concerned.  Unfortunately, due to the cost of travel and time required...it's not really an option.

Post op depression is a real thing & every one of us that ventures this path may have bouts with it. While I do not have the answer to make it go away. What I have read elsewhere was to take photos daily & look back on them in a month & continue to do so. Most any cell phone has a decent enough camera to see what you need to. You will see if there is a trend of change or progress. Seeing your reflection in a mirror a couple times per day makes the changes more fluid & you really do not notice without a reference to look back upon. Just read one persons account of her ffs & that her nose & jaw were right at a year post op until she was happy with how the swelling had settled.

Also, immerse yourself in another interest or hobby. I know that is kind of like a parent telling their child "just go find something to do." It is not easy to purposely distract yourself. But healing is a long term process. So instead of thinking the worst about the swelling, think of it as you have already accomplished the research, surgery & 5 months closer to seeing the real results. There was a surgeon interviewed & he said his job was interesting as he could see the results immediately post op before the swelling & bruising started. However the patient had to wait, but he could honestly tell them how things were going to appear down the road. 

Have also read some accounts of people swearing that products like Quercetin (anti inflammatory) can also really help.  Can read some reviews at Amazon.

Hope this helps a bit & do wish you well. Keep your spirits up, you are almost to the finish line.

It may be worth to ask surgeons in the future to take a photo in the OR right after the surgery before the swelling starts to show the patient the better estimate of the result then?

@AlexisRene

Thank you for the kind words, I actually wrote a long reply a few days ago but deleted it afterwards as I really didn't think that talking about my depression (although I have to admit that some days, it is unbearable) was probably not appropriate for this thread.  I just want to say thank you for taking the time to respond.

@anjaq

Thank you and I think my surgeon had taken pictures after the surgery but I am not sure and to be honest, I don't think I am going to have any more work done in the future.

Quote from: Justarandomname on November 05, 2017, 08:50:12 AM
Anyway, you mentioned that you had swelling around the eyes, did you get blepharoplasty?  I didn't have that procedure and never had any issues with swelling around my eyes at all, even right after surgery. 

No but the forehead reconstruction ended up with some swelling around the eyes.

As for depression I get that. Every surgery has complications and things that don't work out like you think. I did not expect to be worried about the hairline scar but here I am getting transplants a year later just to cover it up.

I've come to be satisfied with everything else though despite wishing my nose came out a little 'cuter'. Some things are just not worth revisiting (risking other complications).

Quote from: Debra on November 14, 2017, 08:34:19 AM
As for depression I get that. Every surgery has complications and things that don't work out like you think. I did not expect to be worried about the hairline scar but here I am getting transplants a year later just to cover it up.

I've come to be satisfied with everything else though despite wishing my nose came out a little 'cuter'. Some things are just not worth revisiting (risking other complications).

So true, I expected some depression but wow, the ups and downs are pretty tough.  Anyway, I am also planning on getting a hair transplant to fill in the scarring eventually.  Just haven't decided on who to go to.

Are you planning on getting any additional work done? I think I will definitely need a revision rhinoplasty as I feel they didn't really do anything other than the bridge/upper portion of my nose.

Anyway, if you are still curious, I can pm you the photos of my jaw and nose to show you how the swelling is after 4 months post op.