5 days post Lefort 1 Osteotomy

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#1 Post by **superflyguy** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:49 am

I had my upper jaw surgery on Tuesday this week. Went very well apart from nosebleeding, had septoplasty and turbinate removal as well.

My nose still bleeds a little, does anyone know how long it will be before it settles down?

I still have a lot of swelling at the back of the throat with an uvula that looks like a punch bag, how long does it take to settle down? It is so swollen I can feel it on the back of my tongue, I take it this will get better?

It there a reason why you have to eat a pureed meal, I am finding it ok to eat rice, soft meat as well as the usual well cooked vegetables and the like. Is there a reason why chewing should be avoided? I would have thought that all the screws and brackets would be more than enough to fix the maxilla in position.

Final question, I have found the whole surgical process very straightforward with very little pain, in fact it surprises me just how little 'surgical pain' I've had. There has been pain from the swelling and now I have two lovely black eyes and yellow cheeks. My biggest problem is numbness. Not from the lips or anything but from upper teeth and upper palate, its like I've eaten loads of ice cream and it's just really numb. This is what has caused the most difficulty eating not being able to feel food in the mouth.How long does it take to settle down and do you regain all the feeling in your mouth and teeth? It's weird brushing your teeth when there is so little feeling in them.

I'm already pleased with the post surgical position and can't wait to see what it looks like when all the swelling has gone down.

#2 Post by **OhioM** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 2:29 pm

Hi! Congrats on getting through the roughest part! My nosebleeds lasted about 10 days. Maybe a little more off and on, but I no longer had to walk around with tissues hanging out of my nostrils after about 1.5 weeks. That was a very frustrating thing for me...I'd wake up with dried blood on my face....lovely!

My OS wanted me on "soft chew" before I left the hospital, which isn't really definitive is it? I've heard scrambled egg texture is about the most you want to chew. It's not to hold your maxilla in place, but to avoid disrupting the bone healing process. It's really rare, but if your bones don't seal together and heal properly (called a "non-union"), you end up back in surgery re-doing the whole thing. WORST case scenario in my mind.....Chewing and clenching of the jaws is not good for the healing process. I'm 7.5 weeks post op and I still enjoy my soft chew stuff, although I've learned to cheat a little and suck on things, take tiny bites and then swallow whole, ect....

I still don't have feeling in much of my mouth if I test it, but it really doesn't bother me any more. I guess I've adjusted to the numbness.

#3 Post by bb » Sun Mar 14, 2010 3:34 pm

Apparently the human bite can be 60-120 pounds per square inch- so although your screws are in securely now, perhaps if you bit too hard it could cause damage.

#4 Post by **superflyguy** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:35 am

Boy how I wish I'd read that a little earlier, have just finished off some chinese pork that was quite soft but needed a bit of chewing. How foolish do I feel, last thing I want is to go though the surgery again.

Will have to start using the blender to get my meat fix, lol

Cheers for the replies, its been two years since I had my braces put on, it has flown by. Just wish I'd done it when I was younger, I started my treatment just before my 40th birthday. You're never to old to have straight teeth as far as I'm concerned.

Andrew

#5 Post by **OhioM** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:20 am

Andrew, I don't mean to make you worry or feel bad. Non unions are really rare, and if it was a major concern, I think our OSs would give us stronger warnings. My OS has told me to advance my diet as I feel comfortable, and kind of rolled his eyes when I expressed concern about non-unions. There have been a couple of non-union cases on the board, but who knows what caused them. You can't pinpoint a direct cause - everyone has their own issues while they heal.

#6 Post by **superflyguy** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 12:00 pm

Don't worry about the scaring of me.

It's probably not such a bad thing. All I can think about is throwing my mouth round a juicy steak or even worse....a massive kebab...(I'm from the U.K. after all lol) and the fear will do me good. It has already done my weight some good, I've already lost nearly 4kg and its only been a week since surgery.

Thanks for the reply.

Its good to read and hear from people with similar experiences, all my friends at work said I was mad to go through all this just so my teeth were straight and met normally. Mind you we work in intensive care unit so we see the extreme end of surgical complications and I was petrified of the anaesthetic as well. I dont know why I worried though, it was an amazing experience and the team looked after me so well.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings.

Andrew