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POSTED UNDER Chin Implant REVIEWS

27-Year-Old Received Chin Implant, Submental Liposuction With Fat Grafting. Beverly Hills, CA

ORIGINAL POST

I'm not sure if I can call this a review just yet....

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Shopgirl19
$7,500
I'm not sure if I can call this a review just yet. I'm writing this mostly so that I can share my experience with plastic surgery in general (so far). This entry is quite long but if you read it I believe you will get some real well-rounded insight into what it’s like to get surgery on your face. My face is currently bandaged up so I cannot see any sort of result yet.
Just to give you some background information about myself, I'm a petit young lady (5 feet tall, 100lbs.), I eat fairly healthy and work out about 3-5 times a week. Unfortunately I have a slope just under my chin that makes it look like I have a weak chin and no jawline (my mother and sisters have it as well). It's not that bad but it has bothered me for years now. I've always been that person who is afraid of what age will look like on my face so I've been very proactive about using creams and protecting my face from the sun, however, I knew that no amount of cream would give me a strong jawline. This was important to me because I know that as I age, my weak jawline will turn into jowls so the way I saw it, getting surgery at 27 (when i'm healthy and my skin still retains elasticity) is far more efficient then getting it when I'm 60 and who knows how difficult healing will be.
I didn't tell very many people that I was getting the chin implant mostly because I don't have the energy to deal with other people's opinions, especially when they don't know how I feel. Furthermore, I was still in a bit of disbelief that I was actually about to get plastic surgery; changing my face forever is kind of a big deal to me.
RealSelf has been such an amazing help from the decision making process all the way until now and coping with the recovery process.
When searching for my surgeon, I looked up countless reviews for doctors and people’s experiences with getting chin implants and went on a total of 2 consolations. Ultimately I decided to go with the second doctor because first and foremost, he had the best photos of people he had performed chin implants on (no matter how good a surgeon may tell you he is, the proof is in the pudding, his/her photos should speak for his/her work). He is also very intelligent and was very thorough during the consultation and made sure to answer every question I had.
I am now 4 days post-op and can honestly tell you that the recovery process has been very difficult. I am about to get very real with you so that you really know what you’re getting yourself into but please keep in mind that this was just my experience.
As I previously mentioned, my face is completely bandaged up so the only portion of my face that is actually exposed is just my two eyes, my nose, the tiniest bit of cheek and my mouth. I cannot open my mouth more than about half an inch and yes, that means I cannot chew (and btw, my bottom lip is completely numb so I can’t use straws either, oh and I can’t really talk.) Right about now, you’re probably asking yourself what I’ve been eating for the past 4 days, unfortunately for me, the answer is baby food. Since I have been unable to open my mouth, I can’t brush my teeth, which has lead to gingivitis (which I have never had before in my life) and extremely dull teeth (I can kind of see them when I lift up my top lip, which is thankfully not numb).
Having these straps on my face has been one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life and I still have 3 more days to go before they are removed. I must say, however, that I have seen other people's photos in which they were sent home post-op with no face straps on and I have noticed that those people tend to develop infections at the incision. Don’t get me wrong, I trust my surgeon with my life, if I didn’t I would have never let him touch me with a scalpel, all I’m saying is that these face straps are seriously the bane of my existence right now, preventing me from sleeping, eating, talking, showering, brushing my teeth, washing my hair and just about everything else we like to do to draw the line between hobo and upstanding citizen.
I haven’t decided if all this is worth it yet because I don’t believe it’s really fair to answer that until I can get these horrendous straps off. I will tell you that I had a lot of swelling directly after surgery and now (4 days later) the swelling has gone down about 50% so I know there’s light at the end of the tunnel, I’m just not sure how bright it is.
I’m still contemplating posting pictures because I know it will help people but I’m also a very private person so I’ll have to think about it some more.
Anyway, I’ll leave it here for now and post again once I get these straps off. Wish me luck!

Shopgirl19's provider

Rady Rahban, MD, FACS

Rady Rahban, MD, FACS

Board Certified Plastic Surgeon

4.9 | 481 Reviews
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Replies (15)

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October 25, 2014
Your story is so thorough and will be extremely helpful for others considering a chin implant! If I wasn't such a chicken, I would get one myself. I hope you get those straps off soon (imagine how good it will feel to wash your hair, brush your teeth and eat real food...ahhhhh). Please keep us posted. And if you want to put up photos, you could do just the bottom half of your face to preserve anonymity.
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October 25, 2014
Omg, yes! I keep dreaming about all the delicious foods I'll get to eat on Monday! Lol thank you so much, I'm glad I could help!
October 29, 2014
hi shopgirl! yay...you did it :) but it sounds like you're having a rough time with recovery. i still had a ton of swelling a week out but i was able to get out and have lunch with my mother in law on day 8 and pretty much resume 'normal' activity for the most part. however, i STILL have some numbness on one side of my chin at 3 months out. my Dr says it could take a year for it to go away. i see that you had fat grafting as well. i'm not sure what's involved with that....do you think it's adding to the difficulty of your recovery? once you take the strap off you will see that it is MUCH easier to eat. how long do you plan to wear yours? i wore mine 24/7 for about 5 days and then just at night for another week. anyways, washing my hair and taking a shower for the first time was magical. i hope you have been able to hop in by now ;) would love to see some pics!! keep in mind you have a looong while until you will see anything close to final results and that the waiting is the hardest part. i am more than happy to answer any questions that might arise along the way so please feel free to ask away. Hang in there!!! it is worth the sacrifice...just keep reminding yourself of that :) big hugs.
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October 29, 2014
You're the best! I really don't have anyone else I can talk to about this, except my husband but he just keeps telling me that everything's going to be fine which is great but not very insightful lol so I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions so much!! So the fat grafting was for the groove between my bottom lip and chin, kind of like how you did with the juvaderm. I Don't think that that's what's making recovery harder but I'll definitely be asking my doctor. I was able to start showering a couple days ago, yay! I had the strap on 24/7 for 7 days and then nothing after, I hope that's ok :-/ and I'm able to start eating normal foods now but not everything because I can't open my mouth very wide so I wouldn't be able to eat a burger for example. Did you have that problem too? Anyway, thanks again for your encouragement!!! :-D
November 5, 2014
haha! i have definitely driven my husband crazy with all of this. it's nice to have real self as an outlet to bounce things off people who have been there. how are you feeling now?
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November 5, 2014
That's what husbands are for, no? Lol so a lot of my swelling went down! I still have a little but I feel way more comfortable going out in public now. Nothing has improved yet with the numbness but he said that's going to take a couple of months. And you were right about the fat grafting! He said that it's making my recovery a little more difficult because there wasn't much room for the fat so it's squishing the muscle under my lip and making it harder to move my bottom lip around. But he said that should resolve over the next month or so and I've been doing some mouth excersises to try and help it a long. Overall I'm doing much better, I'm just excited to see what it's gunna look like once 100% of the swelling goes down :-D
November 5, 2014
oh good! happy to hear you're doing well :) i hope you will post some pics when you feel comfortable. i would love to see. being patient for the end results was the hardest part. i am a little over 3 months out and i just started (really) liking what i see a couple of weeks ago. good luck to you! x
December 5, 2014
hi shopgirl! just wondering how everything is coming along...hope it looks awesome ;)
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December 5, 2014
Hey, newmom! Thanks for checking in :-) I'm doing so much better than I was a month ago. I still have some tightness, swelling and numbness but I'm hoping that it will go away with time. I got some sensation back on one side of my lip and chin but the other side is still numb. My PS says that I'm a special/abnormal case in regards to the healing process because I'm having more issues than the average person but I'm just trying to be patient. He showed me a before picture of myself a few days ago and my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe what my neck/chin used to look like! Even though I'm not 100% happy with the way I look right now (I'm still having some issues with my bottom lip), after seeing the photos it really made me realize how much better I look so I'm definitely happy about that. I think I'm finally ready to post some pictures so I'll probably do that over the weekend.
December 8, 2014
i was looking through some old pics last night and was really surprised by the difference as well. i am getting more and more used to looking at my new face...my old face is starting to look unfamiliar. plastic surgery is A TRIP!! i am sorry to hear that you are having a 'rough' time with your healing process. are you still have trouble moving your bottom lip? i hope you post some pics soon. i love seeing the before and afters. anyways, hope you have a lovely holiday season. i'm gonna keep my eye out for your photos! xx
October 29, 2014
Good luck :) Im new to realself too! Cantbwaitbto see your results ! Happy healing
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October 30, 2014
Thank you!! :-D
February 27, 2015
Your story could be mine, only I waited until I was 55 to get the implant, and by then, I needed neck lipo. While I was waiting to be numbed for my surgery (done under local), I looked up on the doctor's office wall and noticed pictures posted of a side view of a woman's face. I thought to myself, that poor woman, she looks horrible. You guessed it...they were the "before" pictures the doctor had taken of ME. I'm just over 4 months post op. I had similar bandages, but I was allowed to remove the chin strap to bathe, and I could eat, although I couldn't smile for a very long time, and the numbness was there for at least 2 months. We are our worst critics, so I'm going to tell you what I think (that you aren't seeing). You look incredibly different in your side views. I can see an extreme difference in your profile...all for the good!!! I've had more than one plastic surgery, where the post op recovery left me in misery, but ultimately I never regretted any of the procedures I had done. I just wish I'd had them done when I was younger and could have enjoyed the positive effect they had on my self esteem. I hope you feel better every day, because you can tell you did your research before taking this step, and you really, really do look so much better. I don't mean for that to sound like I'm saying anything about your "before" photos, but I had the same issues, so I know how you feel. I think anyone considering plastic surgery should come to this site for information from real people who have had or are considering plastic surgery. :)
March 9, 2015
Looks really good!
UPDATED FROM Shopgirl19
3 months post

3 months post op

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Shopgirl19
Sorry this took so long. So much stuff has been going on in my life and I just haven't had the chance to update anything on here. It is now 3 months since my surgery which is when most surgeons say that all the swelling should be gone. But honestly, I don't think I look any different than I did last month.
Overall, I'm ok with the fact that I had the chin implant done. I'm not necessarily glad because I don't think it's really changed my facial appearance all that much (for the better, at least). I think it looks alright, though.
I have finally decided to post some photos so you all can see the changes. I'm still experiencing significant numbness on the right side of my chin with some discomfort. But the two things i'm most peeved about is the fact that my lips look smaller and about a week after the surgery I developed this weird dimple on the right side of my chin that shows up when I smile or talk (which is also the side that is taking longer to heal so I'm hoping it will go away once I am completely healed).
Anyway, I'd like to hear what you guys think because I'm not feeling so great about my results :-/

Replies (6)

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January 22, 2015
I love your new chin! It makes your face look skinnier and balances out all of your other features. also, your lips don't look small at all! You look beautiful :)
January 22, 2015
you're not at 4 months yet...so don't trip. i read that many people report their swelling going down all of a sudden at 4 months...when i look back at my 3 month pics i am still quite swollen. it has gone down a lot since then. being patient is the hardest part. hang in there! you're def not seeing your final results, but it looks great!! :D
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January 23, 2015
Thank you so much!! I do feel like it made my face look slimmer, which is cool. I just hope more of the swelling under my chin goes down.
March 13, 2015
hi shopgirl! wondering how everything is healing. hope things are going well :)
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April 17, 2017
Hello does your smile normal as before? Pls answer me my smile is crooked and ı am so worried
March 29, 2018
Hi! I’m just wondering how long it took for the numbness in your lips to go away?