Is my surgeon just taking the conservative route?

[dogbert]

So im 2 weeks post op double jaw surgery lefort 1 with expansion, and BSSO with a swivel cause my jaws grew really weird. I have a splint on my top arch and my surgeon says im gonna be on a liquid diet for a full 8 weeks. Browsing these forums its seems most people start eating soft food at the 3-5 week mark. So my question is why is my surgeon making me go a full 2 months before taking off the splint and letting me eat soft food. Im getting really sick of the liquid diet and having to do it for 6 more weeks is a real bummer. Is he just being really conservative with the healing?

One more question. Im still almost completely numb in my upper lip stretching to the cheeks (which still have a good deal of swelling), and my entire chin and lower lip. Is this normal? Or should some feeling be coming back by now?

[snapdresser]

I was on a full liquid diet for about 8 weeks too. It’s hard, but not impossible. You got this!

A significant amount of numbness is totally normal at 2 weeks post-op. That numbness could take several months, or even a year or more to go away, so buckle down for the long haul

[dogbert]

I was on a full liquid diet for about 8 weeks too. It’s hard, but not impossible. You got this!

A significant amount of numbness is totally normal at 2 weeks post-op. That numbness could take several months, or even a year or more to go away, so buckle down for the long haul

Thanks for the reply .Does the fact that im relatively young (25) factor in to how fast my nerves may heal?

Also I had lip incompetence due to vertical excess prior to surgery and after my upper jaw was expanded and moved up 5mm and my lower jaw moved forward 10mm I still have lip incompetence. Im at 3 weeks now and its more difficult and uncomfortable to close my mouth now then what it was prior to surgery, how can that be? Is it because my lips/mouth area is still quite stiff/hard to move from the scar tissue and residual swelling? Closing my mouth looks very forced and un-natural right now (way weirder looking then prior to surgery even with the extra vertical in my maxilla)... and im worried that im just not gonna be able to close my mouth normally at all.

Thanks for the help

[snapdresser]

Your lip mobility may well be linked to the nerve issues you’re talking about. When they retract the skin to impact your maxilla, the surgeon pushes fairly hard against the nerves that run under your eye sockets. This often times causes reduced upper lip mobility for some time after the surgery. You sound like a pretty classic case. Just be patient. You’re only a couple weeks post-op, so you may as well get used to the worrying and not-knowing You have a long ways ahead before you know how much your nerves will regenerate.

Being 25 might help a little, but it’s still going to be many months, possibly a year+ until your nerves are as healed as they will get.

[dogbert]

Your lip mobility may well be linked to the nerve issues you’re talking about. When they retract the skin to impact your maxilla, the surgeon pushes fairly hard against the nerves that run under your eye sockets. This often times causes reduced upper lip mobility for some time after the surgery. You sound like a pretty classic case. Just be patient. You’re only a couple weeks post-op, so you may as well get used to the worrying and not-knowing You have a long ways ahead before you know how much your nerves will regenerate.

Being 25 might help a little, but it’s still going to be many months, possibly a year+ until your nerves are as healed as they will get.

Could the swelling and scar tissue in my upper jaw also be inhibiting movement? My whole mouth area is pretty tight, and even my cheeks which arent numb are not as elastic as they once were, I noticed this while brushing for the first time yesterday.

[snapdresser]

Could be. Who knows how much of it is due to that versus the nerve issue. Good luck with recovery!