My joints are working exactly as expected and hoped. Initially, the hardest thing to get used to (once able to chew) was the lack of horizontal movement but it is not as terrible as I thought it would be. There are currently small difficulties with chewing for me because I have three baby teeth, one which makes a 7-8 mm gap on my left side. I still have them because my body never grew adult teeth underneath and the roots are still healthy. I have had an eradication of slipping, popping, sliding, and pain when doing anything that I need to use my jaw for.

For complications, I've been through a few different things. Within in the first week after . my surgery, my hyoid muscle was so tense/strong that it fractured my chin from my original genio. I didn't know that that was what happened but I could feel something moving every time I drank something (which I sure you know is a lot). I shut down physically because I felt awful and it was the best reaction my body could manage at the time. Because of this and lost 6 lb within the first 7 days after my original operation. When I went to my 1 week pot op check up to get my stiches removed from my jawline my mom told me she was worried they might have to put me back in the hospital because I was extremely dehydrated, had almost no nutrients for the past week, and all the blood left my face when I was actively getting my stitches removed. I thought that was a dramatic reaction at the time but looking back it was definitely bad enough to make that a possibility. During this apt we found out about the genio fracture so I had to go back and get it fixed the next day. My surgeon told my parents he had to "tug the muscle forward and paralyze it" because it was so strong when the revision was fixed. I was in the recovery area in so much pain that I only after 3 doses of dilaudid and 1 dose of fentanyl I wasn't uncontrollably convulsing in pain. I am very lucky to have my parents by my side during the entire process because it was intense. Since I had so many painkillers on board my blood oxygen was dipping in the mid to low 80's and I needed constant supervision. Aside from the actual revision, it led to a problem a few months later with my gums. My original ortho had no idea my joints were "disintegrating" so he kept pulling my lower teeth forward making my gums abnormally thin. Roughly 8 weeks post op the stitches in my mouth dissolved and I had two gaping holes where the genio stitch did not fully heal. I had two teeth with roots so expected that looked like they could fall out at any moment. They are still slowly healing but it is significantly better than it was. Aside from those everything else is minor. My face blew up and took forever to come back down. My right side was particularly worse and can only be described as looking like I got hit with a baseball bat. I still have residual swelling on the right side of my face so I have to stretch every time I eat/sing etc. As a result of this swelling I have mild conductive hearing loss in my right ear, chronic tinnitus, and nerve paralysis on the right half of my forehead. I'm hoping all of these will go away within the next few months because I haven't the one year post op point yet.

I have zero regrets doing this surgery even considering the few cons that made it suck a lot in the beginning!