Metal Mouth Message Board

So I had upper and lower jaw surgery a little over 3 weeks ago. Because I was very concerned about nose widening my surgeon (very, very experienced I should add, number one in the country I had my surgery) decided to do a very tight alar cinch. He said there would still be a little widening but he would do the cinch as tight as possible.

Fast forward to surgery. When I woke up, like many people my nose was completely blocked. But something I haven't really seen in anyone else, well not to this extreme, is a completely bent nose. Now I'm not talking about a little assymetry- one nostril was completely squished and upturned to the point I couldn't even fit a qtip in to clean whilst the other one was stretched wide to a rdiculous amount. The tip of my nose was almost level with the squished nostril. Now it's obviously better, but it is still undeniably crooked. One nostril is small and upturned (very similar to my pre surgery nose) whilst the other nostril is higher up wide and down turned. I also cannot breathe properly through the smaller nostril and the there is a painful bony bump in the inside of my wider nostril. Also I was expecting my nostrils to widen but my very thin bony nose has also widened above the nostrils giving the look of a very big, wide and bulbous nose.

My question is has anyone experienced anything similar after surgery? Is this all swelling? Is having a crooked asymmetrical nose a side effect of this surgery? Even if your nose was completely straight and symmetrical pre surgery? My biggest worry is that I will have to have a nose job to fix this as although I have had 10 surgeries before this one, the experience has made me never ever want to have surgery on my face!! The thought of having a nose job absolutely depresses me particularly because my nose was actually ok before all this!

I have to admit I do love my nose in profile, although each side looks different, it's straight on and at a 3/4 profile that looks ridiculous.

Help!!!

Anyone?

It might be easier to judge the severity of the issue if you posted some images, but going from what you've written it's hard to judge if the nose asymmetry is a result of swelling or due to other surgical factors. I'm currently 7 weeks post op but at the 3 week mark I was still incredibly puffy in all areas of my face, including the base of my nose. Even now I still have noticeable asymmetry in my swelling so all I can recommend is to wait for the rest of the swelling to subside before coming to any conclusions.

In any case it would be at least 6 months before a surgeon would even consider further surgery so there's no use in stressing yourself until the remaining swelling has abated and your face has settled to its natural state. On the other hand I would suggest you mention this to your surgeon/orthodontist at your next visit so that they are at least aware of your worries and will be able to provide a more informed recommendation compared to us mere mortals.

Hey, how is your nose now? Some asymmetry on the nose is due to swelling and it goes away after a few months. However, if your nose has turned to one side and you cannot breathe through one of your nostrils, then it may be due to a deviated septum. After my jaw surgery i had the same problem. My nose was straight beore. After surgery my nose was deviated to left and it was completely visible. I thought it was swelling too but then my doc told me that my nose septum deviated. My surgeon push my nose and it helped a bit but i still can't breathe through left nostril. So, you should go checked your nose. I hope it's not the case though. Good luck.

Hi there,
I am three weeks post op upper jaw surgery and am experiencing the same problem. Did your asymmetry go away? Does you're nose look
Normal again?
My surgeon said he put stitches in to prevent my nose from widening but it looks huge. It's also deviated to the left and bigger on the left side.
I'm so scared it won't go back to normal.

Hello,
I had a BSSO, Lefort 1, and a reversal of a genioplasty. The surgery itself was 8 hours and following the surgery, you could clearly see that the septum in my nose was deviated pretty severely to the right and the left side of my nose was nearly impossible to breath out of. This was very evident immediately after surgery and remained once swelling went down.

One of the known potential complications for this surgery is the possibility of a deviated septum. This is because they intubate and ventilate (provide breathing) during the surgery through a nasal tracheal tube. Having a tube in your nose for 8 hours while they are taking apart and putting together your lower jaw puts you at risk for a deviated septum and the other associated risks from a prolonged nasal intubation.

This may be your issue or depending on how long ago your surgery occurred; you may still have mid-facial swelling. The first few weeks following surgery the surgeons have you elevated to help with the swelling. I actually slept in a lazy-boy chair the first week which helps decrease the swelling and was a more comfortable breathing position.

If it has been ~month since your surgery and your nose appears crooked or nasal septum is deviated; the best person to evaluate would be an ENT plastic surgeon. It does appear from reading the literature that your nose will change shape if you had the upper jaw surgery too. The swelling however really distorts the final you for weeks if not MONTHS...

My outcome was a septoplasty (correcting deviated septum) and a rhinoplasty (correcting shape of nose) six months post oral surgery. My insurance paid for the septoplasty portion of surgery and part of the rhinoplasty along with the associated anesthesia and hospital charges.

Give it some time, you've been through a major surgery and there will be some changes. I was not very pleased with my facial appearance following the surgery. However; now that I'm one year post-op, I think it's much better.