minarima

For the vast majority of my life (from the age of about 12 onwards) I've had a distinctly pronounced lower jaw and chin. For better or for worse this has assimilated itself into how I identify with myself and has heavily influenced my own self-image. Losing this trait was probably the most difficult change to adjust to, as I now have a pretty average lower jaw and chin (which is of course a good thing). However now some time has passed I've grown to appreciate the more balanced appearance to my facial features and don't feel so jarred when I look in the mirror.

In terms of speech I used to talk with a lisp which is now thankfully not the case, and aside from this I also speak much more clearly and with greater projection. The tone of my voice on the other hand has barely changed at all, which surprised me to be honest.

I felt as though strangers tended to judge me very quickly on appearance, and wouldn't necessarily take what I had to say very seriously, which made my day job as a technician difficult at times. Also an annoying side effect of my severe underbite was a strong lisp, which also contributed to the overall appearance of being 'stupid' or 'unconfident'.

My lisp has now thankfully gone, and I feel as though strangers are much more warm to my appearance now than they were before the surgery, which although being a positive change, does make you realise how superficial we as humans can be to those with facial deformities.

Probably one of the most difficult experiences I've ever had to go through physically. I was one of the unlucky ones and had severe swelling post-op, which when combined with having your jaws wired shut and your nose blocked with dried blood makes breathing almost impossible. In the first 3 days of recovery I had two panic attacks because I was so worried that I would vomit from swallowing so much blood and it wouldn't have anywhere to go...

I was on a purely liquid diet for 6 weeks (even lumpy soup had to be blended until it was completely liquid), and then I had my jaw unwired and could eat mushy food that could be eaten without chewing. At 8 weeks I started to chew soft food very very slowly.

Recovery from this type of surgery is long and rather tortuous. Strangely one of the hardest parts wasn't the not eating bit but actually the sleeping upright every night bit.

Most friends and family hid their initial reactions from me for the sake of politeness, however after a few months most confided with me that it was a big shock when they first saw me but that they were pleased it all went smoothly.

My most memorable post-op experience actually happened roughly 6 months after the fact, while I was walking down a railway platform to catch a train. I'd happened to bump into an old university friend who I hadn't seen in a couple of years and who wasn't aware of the surgery. I called out his name as he passed by but he just looked at me as though I'd killed his cat.

After messaging him over Facebook to confirm it was me he admitted that he didn't even recognise me due to my sudden change in appearance.

This is actually something my surgeon had a serious conversation with me about before the surgery. Sneezing directly post-op is a huge no no, and you must try to avoid any sneeze triggers such as staring at bright lights and breathing in pollen/dust etc (who likes to stare at bright lights anyway?). If you do accidentally sneeze it's possible to rip all of the internal stitches out and bleed profusely, so should be avoided for obvious reasons.

Luckily I managed to avoid sneezing throughout the first 4 weeks of recovery, but it was harder than you'd think!