Chin Lipo and Implant for Smooth Jawline - San Jose, CA

Hey all. I have a previous post where I share my experience with having coolsculpting done under my chin (among other areas). The results were good and the fat has reduced, but I still don't have that nice, *defined*, pretty jawline, so I'm going in tomorrow to have some slimlipo done on my chin, neck and jowl area. My doctor has suggested a small implant to fill in/ smooth out the gap where the front part of my chin and the jawline create that ugly jowl dent. He says the wings of the implant will fill in this area and that the front part will not add that much forward projection to my chin. He will probably shave down the implant as he sees fit during the procedure if it's too bulky on one dimension or another.

I'm not too nervous; the procedure will be done under local anesthesia and my doc does a ton of these, so I'm confident I'm in good hands. I will keep updating throughout my recovery. Pics soon!!

*Side note: I wish Realself would allow us to tag multiple procedures in one post (since many people have more than one thing done at a time), but since I can't see a way to do that, I will repost this same info with a different procedure type so it comes up when chin implant and chin lipo are searched. FYI, the two procedures together were discounted so the total price for both were $7800.

I survived! Yay!! So the procedures were done and I'm dutifully recovering at home -- doing puzzles and binge watching TV. It's day 2 (they say this is the worst of the pain and swelling usually). It's not so bad.
Here's my experience so far:

1. Dr. Lay and his office are fabulous. I wasn't nervous until I was actually in the surgical room on the table. By that time, they'd given me some pills (I can't remember the names) to calm me down -- I think it's the stuff people take when they get nervous public speaking -- and a muscle relaxer?, and a benadryl just in case I had a reaction to the iodine (I can't have iodine dye intravenously, but they use it to disinfect the skin on your face). During the procedure Dr. Lay played Bob Marley in the background and talked through an entire Bob Marley history lesson (LOL). This was a welcome distraction since I was awake the whole time. His staff was also really great -- everyone including the doc are very fun, down-to-earth and charming to have around during a stressful procedure where you've chosen to alter your face surgically. They also paid special attention to my questions, concerns, how I felt before, during and after the procedure. No complaints at all.
2. The procedure itself -- not exactly how I expected it, but close. Here's what I didn't expect: I knew I'd be able to hear and feel the chin scraping as he created the pocket, I just didn't expect for it to go on for so long. Lots of pulling and stretching as he made sure the pocket was exactly how he wanted it, and during the insertion of the implant. It definitely didn't hurt, but was super surreal... imagine the sensation of being numb while getting a filling on a tooth, now imagine that the doc is working -- from underneath -- on the bone where the root of the tooth lives instead of on the surface of the tooth. I was surprised by how similar the sensations were and how aware I was of my own skeletal anatomy. Definitely not my fav part, but manageable. If you have any uncontrolled anxiety, this might be a little rough for you. The local anesthesia shots were a bit painful (especially the second round for the lipo) because there were just so many of them and he injected pretty much my entire face from the cheekbones down (minus my lips and nose). The slimlipo was less unpleasant than the bone scraping for the most part, and the procedure was shorter, but I was ready for all the unpleasantness to be over, so I was getting impatient. It helped for me to do some meditation while this was going on. I started humming a note, like an "om" (The doc was unfazed by this) and I tried to focus on sustaining that and taking deep slow breaths -- I actually was able to "check out" for a bit, which I'm sure helped calm my anxiety. I highly recommend this if you can do it.
3. Recovery so far-- the pain I've felt has been pretty manageable. I'm not sure if this is common, but whenever I have local anesthesia in large doses (like for my wisdom teeth surgery), the numbness itself starts to hurt in a weird way -- I don't know how else to explain it. Once that wore off, I was a little sore, mostly my cheeks, as he did some lipo in that area as well. The soreness moved around a lot throughout the day. I took Tylenol because they said I could take nothing that could thin my blood for a week. I re-watched season 1 of Game of Thrones and took a nap midday. I had trouble moving my bottom lip on the left side for a couple hours, but as far as I can tell, all my muscles and nerves are in proper working order. I haven't tried a broad smile yet because, frankly, my cheeks are too swollen to do that (lol). Slept on my back, propped up, woke up around 3:30, took some more Tylenol, slept till 8am. So far so good.
4. Day after -- Even though I got plenty of sleep, I took a 4 hour nap on the couch. I've been icing and sipping fluids. Taking arnica pellets and used the gel on my face this morning when I changed the bandages. Everything looks normal -- lots of swelling (I expected I'd swell more than most people, since I usually do), some bruising, and just general soreness and tightness. The doctor said he shaved down the front of the implant a lot, so there isn't going to be much forward projection (which I didn't really need) , just the wings filling out the jowl sulci and a little bit of vertical height. Sooooo... it's just a waiting game now. Healing and icing and watching GOT with my dog.

I'll keep updating. Happy researching and healing everyone. Happy to answer questions if anyone has them :)

Day 5 recovery:

Swelling continues but is definitely decreasing by the day. Numbness in my cheeks, neck and jaw, but doesn't affect my facial movement. The swelling is down enough now that I can make facial expressions again (ha!).

Pros: Can already see the reduction in the fat under my chin, reduction in jowls, and slimmer looking lower face.

Cons: Swelling in my upper face is more noticeable because the compression garment doesn't compress the upper/ inner parts of my cheeks, so the swelling gets kind of smooshed to the center of my face and upward (I know it won't stay like this, but it's just a little weird to see parts of my face that weren't altered to undergo changes during healing -- just impatient waiting to look like myself again). Quite a bit of bruising around my neck and behind my right ear. Bruising is still showing up in weird places and decreasing in other places.

Pain is totally manageable, incision sites are starting to get itchy (good sign = healing), and the compression garment is a bit annoying, but it's temporary. Airplane pillows have been my best friend: keeping my head propped up during sleep, helping hold ice packs in place. A strange thing I noticed is that when I ice my chin from the underside for more than a few minutes, it starts to ache more than usual when I'm icing other areas. I realized it's because the implant itself is "freezing" and it's like having an ice cube inside my face next to my bone (I've since started taking the ice off my chin once it becomes uncomfortable). I didn't anticipate that, so it was kind of amusing/ bizarre.

energy levels are fine. I've been taking walks with my dog at night (so I don't scare the neighborhood children with my mummy wrapped face). Still doing a liquid diet. Lost a couple pounds-- probably just water weight.

Happy healing, all.