Metal Mouth Message Board

So I'm trying to find and connect with people who have gone through an experience similar to mine because it's been so hard and it would be nice to know that I'm not alone in this. Two months ago I had double jaw surgery to correct my underbite/open bite. My jaw joints were too smooth so that made it hard for them to know where to place my upper jaw and ended up moving it too far forward so I had to go in for a second surgery 4 weeks later to have them bring it back 2 millimeters (those IV needles I think messed me up after that one.. I still feel like my veins have not yet fully healed from it). Also my already crooked nose got even worse and my columella actually collapsed to the left closing my left nostril after the first surgery. During the second surgery they took out some bone beneath my nose to help remedy this and while that did help, my nose is still really crooked. Much more so than before the surgery. Now I know I'm still swollen from the second surgery as it's only been 1 month but I hate what this surgery has done to my face and I have been feeling very depressed over it and obsessed worrying that this is my face now. I'm 30 yrs old so I'm thinking maybe I waited too long to get this done and maybe had I done it when I was 20 or something I wouldn't have experienced these complications. Has anyone experienced any part of what I had? All I've really seen and read are the success stories of how everything went perfectly and people are so glad they did this when I really dont feel that way... maybe I will someday I will but these past two months have been the hardest.

I didn't experience everything you did but like you, 6 weeks after my double jaw surgery, I had to go back in and have my upper jaw corrected due to collapse. I still have some swelling 10+ weeks post op. It's not super noticeable but I definitely feel it. My nose also got VERY crooked after both surgeries and I thought for sure the surgeon deviated my septum, thankfully that was not the case and it's gone back to almost completely straight again. It's not quite there but I think I am the only one who notices. We are always are own worst critics so we will be far more critical of these things than anyone else. I still struggle with whether or not this has been worth it, most days I don't think so. It's a very long healing process, that's one thing I keep reminding myself of though. Just make sure you voice all your concerns to the necessary people and don't be timid about it when you have your follow ups.

[quote=Jfullflow10 post_id=505950 time=1544104346 user_id=31581]
I didn't experience everything you did but like you, 6 weeks after my double jaw surgery, I had to go back in and have my upper jaw corrected due to collapse. I still have some swelling 10+ weeks post op. It's not super noticeable but I definitely feel it. My nose also got VERY crooked after both surgeries and I thought for sure the surgeon deviated my septum, thankfully that was not the case and it's gone back to almost completely straight again. It's not quite there but I think I am the only one who notices. We are always are own worst critics so we will be far more critical of these things than anyone else. I still struggle with whether or not this has been worth it, most days I don't think so. It's a very long healing process, that's one thing I keep reminding myself of though. Just make sure you voice all your concerns to the necessary people and don't be timid about it when you have your follow ups.
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Thabks for the reply!! How long it it take for your nose to go straight again? I was told I had a deviated septum before the surgery which didnt really surprise me because of how crooked my nose was before but now it's so much worse. But swelling could do that I suppose... yeah I voiced my concern about my nose after my first surgery and he did do something that helped during the second one...

[quote=Jfullflow10 post_id=505950 time=1544104346 user_id=31581]
I didn't experience everything you did but like you, 6 weeks after my double jaw surgery, I had to go back in and have my upper jaw corrected due to collapse. I still have some swelling 10+ weeks post op. It's not super noticeable but I definitely feel it. My nose also got VERY crooked after both surgeries and I thought for sure the surgeon deviated my septum, thankfully that was not the case and it's gone back to almost completely straight again. It's not quite there but I think I am the only one who notices. We are always are own worst critics so we will be far more critical of these things than anyone else. I still struggle with whether or not this has been worth it, most days I don't think so. It's a very long healing process, that's one thing I keep reminding myself of though. Just make sure you voice all your concerns to the necessary people and don't be timid about it when you have your follow ups.
[/quote]

Thanks for the reply!! How long it it take for your nose to go straight again? I was told I had a deviated septum before the surgery which didnt really surprise me because of how crooked my nose was before but now it's so much worse. But swelling could do that I suppose... yeah I voiced my concern about my nose after my first surgery and he did do something that helped during the second one...

I would say it took 7 or 8 weeks after the second surgery for me to notice my nose was back to a more normal position. And like I said, I still have some swelling around my nose so that may be why I still notice it's just slightly crooked yet. I am trying to stay positive and wait until I am 6 months out or so to give final judgments on everything. The one great thing the surgery did was help alleviate and potentially eliminate my sleep apnea. I have a sleep study at the end of this month to find out if it did. It's really the functional side of things that have bothered me, the crooked nose, the feeling like I have orange peels stuck in my lips at all times, lower jaw going numb when I eat, major pressure in sinuses when I blow my nose, my teeth still need a lot of work before my bite will be proper. Like I said though, it's a long healing process. I just keep reminding myself of that.

Thank you for sharing your experience. This really is a journey and seems like such a long recovery period. I know I still have a ways to go but I hope the worst of it is over. Did you have trouble breathing through your crooked nose up until you saw that it straightened out and more swelling went down? I'm still taking afrin at least every night before I sleep because I swell so much when I sleep it seems. But I could have more swelling than most in that area because of the piece of bone they took out from under my nose. I know it's not good to rely on afrin for so long so I want to get off of it but it really helps right now.

Hi There- I had double jaw surgery in which they deviated my septum. However; I had a history of a previously repaired deviated septum and a eight hour surgery. The end result was I had to go back and have a rhinoplasty/septoplasty approximately 5 months after the MMA surgery. Unfortunately deviated septums are a known complication as they intubate through the naries to work in your mouth.
In my case; the septum was obviously deviated and I could not breath out of the affected side at all. To have this evaluated; you don't want your average ENT to evaluate. It needs to be a plastics ENT as they specialize in these types of cases. My insurance covered the septoplasty but I paid (a reduced professional courtesy fee; ~ 5K) for rhino. The rhino portion was adding cadaver cartilage ; similar to applying a tent over my nose. Thus providing me with more structure and stability to hopefully not collapse again.
It's still not perfect but 80% improved.
Karla