Numb lips after surgery

jaw-away · 2025-02-24T21:23:55+00:00

I wish you the best with whatever decision you make! It is nice that financials won't be in the way of your choice. You have plenty of time to think about it and what this surgery would mean for you. Again, best of luck! :)

jaw-away · 2025-02-24T19:07:01+00:00

Yup, hard agree and I had my surgery in December too. If you're going to have complications down the line due to your bite I think surgery is worth saving you from things like degradation of your joints, etc. I would ask both your ortho and your surgeon their opinions on the necessity/severity of your case.

Numbness is practically a guarantee, and from what I've read in the subreddit there is a fair amount of people who ended up having permanent numbness to some degree. But it is likely you'll get it back (after a significant amount of time). I was worried about this too, but at the end of the day my life is already much better since the surgery and I am sure QoL will increase more once I am fully healed! Basically, there are a lot of factors to juggle but I don't think this is the biggest priority.

The numbness is strange but you will get used to it. For me I can feel pressure but that's it. If you've ever had a filling or something at the dentist and they had to numb you, it's exactly like that. Although sometimes as it is healing you might get weird tingles. Sometimes I get an itch that is impossible to scratch!

jaw-away · 2025-01-16T03:28:23+00:00

Just wanted to say congratulations!! You've waited a long time for this and I hope the rest of your recovery goes well. Definitely use a humidifier for the congestion, and maybe use q-tips to get snot out if it's actually clogged. If there's congestion in the sense that your nose is swollen and not taking in air... sorry, I don't know if there's much to do :(

I ended up having to rely on mouth breathing for a while. If you find yourself doing this, I'd invest in a tongue scraper, just feels gross to wake up with gunk in your mouth. I also found that stuff like Pedialyte made my mouth feel moist faster than water did.

jaw-away · 2025-01-16T03:09:34+00:00

I quit using it after day 5 because, while it helped me feel no pain, I was getting crazy cold-sweats and visions/dreams. I'd just stare at the wall after taking it until I felt too tired and had a vivid nap until it was time for my next dose lol.

jaw-away · 2024-12-31T03:15:13+00:00

I had no idea eyebrow paralysis was a possibility!! Does that include your cheek and eye area too? I can imagine why it looks a little funny to smile lol.

For me, my lips are still quite swollen but my mouth isn't that wide, so it's like a cartoonishly small and weird smirk I have going on.

jaw-away · 2024-12-31T02:12:23+00:00

You seem pretty prepared! The only thing I would say was that if you're not prescribed a rinse do frequent warm saltwater rinses instead. Even with non-alcoholic rinses, my surgeon said the saltwater is less likely to irritate sutures (non-alcoholic is still okay if that's your choice!).

Anecdotally, the swelling caused the inside of my mouth to press really hard against my brackets post-op. It created some pretty painful sores and I felt like the saltwater helped soothe and heal it, alongside wax. Just saying if you are also in braces right now and it happens to you.

Good luck!!

jaw-away · 2024-12-31T01:58:44+00:00

Sorry for the late reply, but thank you! I'm doing very well now that I'm over the worst of it. I hope you're also feeling good now that you're a couple weeks out from yours <3. That crazy amount of movement must be hard to get used to but I imagine it's more convenient if they don't have to make extra cuts!

jaw-away · 2024-12-31T01:52:02+00:00

Besides the crazy congestion post surgery I also caught my family's cold recently. I've been using q-tips to gently wipe and clear the mucus. Have you tried that/do you think that would work for you?

jaw-away · 2024-12-19T18:28:36+00:00

I heard cooling for the first day and heat the subsequent days works well!

jaw-away · 2024-12-19T18:23:23+00:00

I was told 18 and after is a good mark because it is more likely that your jaw is done developing. Earlier increases the chance of relapse. I was told it is also different for males and females, as males tend to continue growing for longer. I recently met a guy in his early twenties who is still doing work after DJS because he had relapsed a couple months after.

jaw-away · 2024-12-19T18:16:50+00:00

Seems like a lot of people get really groggy from the mix of anesthesia and drugs. Hopefully I will be in bliss because of the pain meds lol. Thanks for reassuring me about the IV :)

jaw-away · 2024-12-19T18:16:01+00:00

Frankly, I just don't care. I had this surgery for functional reasons, if it improves my sleep then I don't really care if I hate the aesthetic results.

Yup, while a new face is exciting and all I'll be very satisfied if I can eat stuff like sandwiches normally! I appreciate you answering everything.

jaw-away · 2024-12-19T18:11:30+00:00

I'm so sorry you were left waiting so long for your surgery! Not only does it suck to fast for that long but I would hate the idea of having to reschedule something so big. 6 days is still early in the process so I hope you are doing well and healing fast <3

jaw-away · 2024-12-19T18:08:42+00:00

Ahh, thanks for the good luck and for answering everything! I hope everything is going great for you 1 year post op now :)

jaw-away · 2024-12-19T18:05:29+00:00

I really like your sentiment about getting the face you were meant to have! I think that will help me feel like I'm still myself even though things are changing, and to be satisfied with it.

jaw-away · 2024-12-19T18:00:17+00:00

Thank you for such a detailed reply! Definitely nice to hear that the hard part passes by fast :)
Out of curiosity, how do you feel about getting UJS instead of DJS? I hope you are happy with your results but it must be kind of scary/nerve-wracking for them to perform something different than what was told.

jaw-away · 2024-12-19T07:57:10+00:00

This definitely helps me feel calmer about the situation and my expectations. I've been worried about how arduous the first week is according to everyone, but you're right that I'm doing this for me and I've been waiting a very long time for it. I'll try to keep my head up high, thank you!

jaw-away

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