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I had a chin implant done with a different doctor...
I had a chin implant done with a different doctor about a year ago and the result was not quite what I had in mind. The implant was sitting too low on my chin bone so it only had vertical projection with very little horizontal projection, which made it look weird. It did improve my chin, but I knew I would have to re-do my chin. I won't go into details why I didn't come back to my first doctor.
I went to see Dr. Fialkov about 6 months later, after waiting for the chin implant result to settle down. Long story short, I went and did a sliding genioplasty along with hip bone graft surgery in late April 2015.
I have to say, the recovery process of chin implant is NOTHING compared to this one. I did the chin implant through external incision (which I heard is less painful than internal). With chin implant, I never felt any significant pain and I was up and about in 3 days or so. Pain level is about 1 or 2 out of 10. Sliding genioplasty with hip bone graft though, it was really tough. I knew it was going to be a more difficult recovery, but I underestimated how awful I would feel. First off, there were two surgery sites: one in my mouth, which hindered my ability to eat proper food in a proper manner, and another in my hip, an even bigger surgery, which hindered my movement. So it's like a combo, but not in a good way. It is something to keep in mind for anyone reading this and is considering this option. Pain level I would say as high as 7. Keep in mind this is from my own experience. It hurt a lot. I also had trouble peeing the first few days after the surgery. I remember the first time I was trying to pee (the night after the surgery), I was basically sitting and waiting for more than an hour for it to happen, which really frustrated me. But then I figured out to sit in a certain position to make peeing easier. I also woke up with a sore throat, which made it worse.
I didn't realize this, but the painkiller Oxycodone really is a strong drug. For me, unfortunately, I don't think it was a good thing. The first day I was released from the hospital I took a couple pills of the painkiller along with the antibiotic pills. I ate some decent meal and just rested all day. Mind you, that day really was the worst. Not because of the pain, but because I was really nauseated. The next morning, I took the pills again after a quick breakfast and not long after that I vomited everything I ate that morning and pretty much the day before. I did feel better after I vomited but I was afraid to take the painkiller pills again at the same time so I just took the antibiotics and added a couple of tylenol tablets in between.
Later that night after going to bed, I woke up in pain and decided to take the oxycodone pills again. I slept like a baby after. But I remember waking up in the morning feeling like my head just spinning like crazy. I also realized I had really weird and intense dreams the past two nights from the drugs. Anyways, because of my not-so-good experience with oxycodone, I decided to just keep taking tylenol, which might explain why this surgery felt more painful to me.
It wasn't until day 6 where I finally feel a bit more like my old self again. The pain had subsided significantly and was more bearable that I decided to stop taking tylenol altogether. It still stung when I move my mouth to either smile or eat. And my hip still hurt when I exert too much or sneeze.
By day 10, I was feeling a lot better. The swelling had also come down considerably that I didn't feel self conscious being out and about in public and around my coworkers. Some bruising was still visible if seen more closely, but it was more just a yellow hue around my jaw.
A month later, most of the swelling seemed to have disappeared. Thankfully I had no infection or complication so far. The incision in my mouth is healing quite well, and the dissolvable stitches finally dissolved (yay!). My movement from the hip surgery has mostly come back, and I'm happy to see the results from the genioplasty. It blends well with my facial features, and I have a good jawline now. My chin was advanced forward by 6 - 7mm, and lengthened by (I think) 4mm.
It's been 3 months since, and I'm pretty sure the result that I'm seeing is quite final. I am happy with the outcome. I do wonder if maybe I should've asked for just a tad bigger advancement, but all said and done, I like how my jawline blends and complements my overall face feature. As for the hip surgery, my movement is completely back. There is still some weird sensation if I tapped my hip in certain spots, although it doesn't really bother me in any specific way. I understand the healing process can take up to 1 year. The scar, however, does concern me. I am of South East Asian descent, so I do tend to get pigmentation from scars more easily. So right now there is a dark 10cm wide scar on my hip that I hope will continue to fade. Otherwise I will try to find options to even out the scar colouring because it's quite visible.
I went to see Dr. Fialkov about 6 months later, after waiting for the chin implant result to settle down. Long story short, I went and did a sliding genioplasty along with hip bone graft surgery in late April 2015.
I have to say, the recovery process of chin implant is NOTHING compared to this one. I did the chin implant through external incision (which I heard is less painful than internal). With chin implant, I never felt any significant pain and I was up and about in 3 days or so. Pain level is about 1 or 2 out of 10. Sliding genioplasty with hip bone graft though, it was really tough. I knew it was going to be a more difficult recovery, but I underestimated how awful I would feel. First off, there were two surgery sites: one in my mouth, which hindered my ability to eat proper food in a proper manner, and another in my hip, an even bigger surgery, which hindered my movement. So it's like a combo, but not in a good way. It is something to keep in mind for anyone reading this and is considering this option. Pain level I would say as high as 7. Keep in mind this is from my own experience. It hurt a lot. I also had trouble peeing the first few days after the surgery. I remember the first time I was trying to pee (the night after the surgery), I was basically sitting and waiting for more than an hour for it to happen, which really frustrated me. But then I figured out to sit in a certain position to make peeing easier. I also woke up with a sore throat, which made it worse.
I didn't realize this, but the painkiller Oxycodone really is a strong drug. For me, unfortunately, I don't think it was a good thing. The first day I was released from the hospital I took a couple pills of the painkiller along with the antibiotic pills. I ate some decent meal and just rested all day. Mind you, that day really was the worst. Not because of the pain, but because I was really nauseated. The next morning, I took the pills again after a quick breakfast and not long after that I vomited everything I ate that morning and pretty much the day before. I did feel better after I vomited but I was afraid to take the painkiller pills again at the same time so I just took the antibiotics and added a couple of tylenol tablets in between.
Later that night after going to bed, I woke up in pain and decided to take the oxycodone pills again. I slept like a baby after. But I remember waking up in the morning feeling like my head just spinning like crazy. I also realized I had really weird and intense dreams the past two nights from the drugs. Anyways, because of my not-so-good experience with oxycodone, I decided to just keep taking tylenol, which might explain why this surgery felt more painful to me.
It wasn't until day 6 where I finally feel a bit more like my old self again. The pain had subsided significantly and was more bearable that I decided to stop taking tylenol altogether. It still stung when I move my mouth to either smile or eat. And my hip still hurt when I exert too much or sneeze.
By day 10, I was feeling a lot better. The swelling had also come down considerably that I didn't feel self conscious being out and about in public and around my coworkers. Some bruising was still visible if seen more closely, but it was more just a yellow hue around my jaw.
A month later, most of the swelling seemed to have disappeared. Thankfully I had no infection or complication so far. The incision in my mouth is healing quite well, and the dissolvable stitches finally dissolved (yay!). My movement from the hip surgery has mostly come back, and I'm happy to see the results from the genioplasty. It blends well with my facial features, and I have a good jawline now. My chin was advanced forward by 6 - 7mm, and lengthened by (I think) 4mm.
It's been 3 months since, and I'm pretty sure the result that I'm seeing is quite final. I am happy with the outcome. I do wonder if maybe I should've asked for just a tad bigger advancement, but all said and done, I like how my jawline blends and complements my overall face feature. As for the hip surgery, my movement is completely back. There is still some weird sensation if I tapped my hip in certain spots, although it doesn't really bother me in any specific way. I understand the healing process can take up to 1 year. The scar, however, does concern me. I am of South East Asian descent, so I do tend to get pigmentation from scars more easily. So right now there is a dark 10cm wide scar on my hip that I hope will continue to fade. Otherwise I will try to find options to even out the scar colouring because it's quite visible.
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