How does upper jaw surgery affect your cheeks?

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#1 Post by **Kevin542** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:17 pm

I just found out that I am ready for upper jaw surgery. Now I just need to deal with the insurance company to get it authorized and then schedule the surgery.

I have a question that I hope some of you might be able to answer for me. I have been reading a lot of the posts on here and reading various surgeon websites about orthognathic surgery. From what I understand, upper jaw advancement seems to not only affect the appearance of the jaw. People tell me that it also affects the appearance of the cheeks, nose, and even the forehead.

The surgery that I will have will advance my jaw forward and rotate it to the left. From a cleft lip, my jaw and cheekbones are assymetrical. So I am hoping that by rotating the jaw, the symmetry in my face will be better. My right cheekbone is also more developed than the left. Nothing crazy but it bothers me. I was considering getting cheekbone implants to help correct the symmetry but since people say that upper jaw advancement affects the cheeks, the problem might correct itself just by the jaw surgery. I will definitely talk to my surgeon about this but I was just wondering about other peoples' experiences of how their cheeks or cheekbones were affected by surgery. Also, can you please let me know how this surgery affected your nose and your forehead?

I appreciate any experiences that you share with me.

Kevin

#2 Post by **teresa5855** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:20 pm

Hi, I am almost 6 weeks post-op. I had upper and lower jaw surgery. My face is different, I'm trying to get used to it, hopefully I still have some swelling that has to go down. Anyway, since surgery one woman commented that it looked like my cheek bones were higher. I haven't noticed anything with my forehead but my nose was really swollen after surgery, it's back to normal now. The thing is that your whole face will be more symmetrical, that's the goal, and therefore things look different. My sister told me that my face doesn't look so long and sunk in but it's rounder now. My cheek bones are at different heights right now hopefully due to swelling on one side where they fixed a cant. Hope this helps you out!

#3 Post by **Happysmiler** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:12 am

Hi Kevin542,

The reason you get changes to other parts of your face is because the upper jaw is a framework to the centre of your face. Your cheekbones sit virtually above this bone

With me, I have an underbite due to a shorter upper jaw - this means that my face is more 'hollow' in the centre section ie. My nose probably tilts downwards a little(as the nose sits on the top of the upper jaw) and my cheeks are more flat than they will be after surgery.

Because the nose sits on the upper jaw, you can read in many peoples stories that afer surgery their nose even tips upwards a little, although this can be avoided by the surgeon if undesirable

Although your eyes and forehead are not physically moved, by the central part of the face being brought out, they appear to be less prominent - everthing really just slots into place and either moves to or appears to be where it should be.

All the changes are carefully planned and your surgeon will be aware of them. They should all be beneficial for a better overall result.

Try having a look at some before and after pictures and you will see what I mean.

Hope this helps

Happysmiler

#4 Post by **Kevin542** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:38 pm

Thank you Teresa and HappySmiler. Your comments made me even more excited to get this surgery and achieve 'facial harmony'.

#5 Post by **shazmuls** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:16 am

This is very interesting reading, I too am having a lefort 1 (assuming original poster having le fort1) upper jaw surgery, to correct my underbite. However I'm aware of the fact I have somewhat slightly deficient cheekbones too and was considering implants to complement le fort1 surgery. My surgeon says hes done about 500-600 orthognatic surgeries so this is definity something I will enquire about further as theres no point in paying extra cash for implants if in fact a standard upper jaw surgery will give at least the illustion of bigger cheekbones.

One other thing that was touched upon in this thread was the nose, this is something that worries me a lot, I'm not to bother about an increase in the nose angle but broadening of the base. Happysmiler you mentioned changes in the nose can be prevented by the surgeon if desired. Can you (or anyone) elaborate on this. Are we talking sutures or more bone cutting here. Curious to know because needed a rhinoplasty is pretty much one of the worst case scenarios for me I feel.

Cheers.

#6 Post by **Delag** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:27 pm

If I am not mistaken you are refering to an alar stich. My OS said he often places a small stich at the base of the nostrils (not visible)to preven widening. He also said that it would be uncomfortable to smile for a couple of months as these would pull.

#7 Post by **ohmyjaw** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:05 pm

I had a lefort 1 (3 piece) and my cheekbones do not look different. My face does look fuller in the middle - it was really flat before the surgery. And my nose looks the same, except that one of my nostrils is now a bit bigger than the other one. I don't really know why this happened, but I think it is because that side of my upper jaw was pushed out quite a ways to fix a crossbite. I hope the nose thing is temporary - it has gotten slightly better since surgery (3 months ago).

I think the overall result is pretty good. I was not looking for a big change, and I didn't get one. I think that because my face is less sunken, it makes me look a bit younger. However, there could still be some swelling there.

#8 Post by **Brandyleigh35** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:37 pm

I posted some new pics on my blog today of my pre/post profile pics. You can see better the actual changes that have taken place. I had upper, lower, and genio. I was advanced 3mm on top, 4mm on bottom, and 5mm at the chin. Not huge distances but definitely noticible changes.

I think my eyes are much brighter now, and I love my new chin! I'm amazed at how it has balanced my profile out. I would do it all again in a heartbeat!

Brandy

#9 Post by **Gem** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:42 am

I had Leforte I and genioplasty almost 8 weeks ago. Yesterday my dh actually told me my face looks more narrow and the bbq I was at someone told me that I looked like I lost more weight than I actually did. I have noticed that my eyes look a little more set back and that my cheek bones seem a little mire pronounced. The os told me that my results would be minimal but I do notice the new facial structure when I place my hands on my cheeks. As for my nose I haven't noticed anything but there is still some swelling so I do not expect to see final results until October. My chin is definitely different. I never realized how there was no definition but now you can see how it sort of rounds out, but I have somewhat of a double chin and I am just hoping that is due to the skin and muscles having to adjust to the new positions before they tighten up. Ask the surgeon to show you how you will look after, that was how my os convinced me to do the genioplasty.