The Natural Bite

A reader named Jen recently asked about changes to my nose after my upper jaw surgery.
Did my nose get wider and flatter? Did anything change with my cheeks?
Well, there are plenty of photos on this site, so taking a look through those will let you form your own opinion. The photo here was taken a [...]

Ah, before and after photos. Always good for a gasp. Yesterday was my 8 day milestone, and though people tell me the swelling is diminishing, I think I still look more or less like the stiff, moon-faced jaw surgery patient I was 4 days ago. Weekends always break plateaus, so here’s to Friday!
The photo on [...]

The photo on the left was taken 16 months before jaw surgery,  before braces and before I even knew that all this loveliness was to be in my future.
The sides of my face, next to my lower jaw, are much wider and puffier than they were even 1 month before surgery. Due to my underbite [...]

So, I think that today might be my peak in swelling. At least, I’m hoping so. I saw my surgeon today for a post-op follow-up and, instead of telling me how awesome I am and that I’m breaking recovery records, he made a joke about how I look like Richard Nixon.
Yikes! Richard Nixon was a [...]

The photo on the left was taken the morning of my jaw surgery, as I checked into the hospital. Someone commented to me that the overall shape of my profile was that of a slight crescent, with the concave part being my cheeks, nose, and upper jaw.
The photos on the right were taken today, right [...]

Pictures are so fun… In the first one, I am grimacing to show my lower teeth and braces. I’m totally normal looking in this photo, but the second, post- jaw surgery picture shows what should be the true relationship between my upper and lower jaws. Even with the cartoonish monkey swelling, I think I’m looking [...]

Here is a set of before and after profile photos for my upper jaw advancement surgery. Before my jaw surgery, I avoided having my profile photographed, but for the sake of record-keeping, I did allow a few. Since my jaw surgery three and a half days ago, I’ve been diligently documenting every cabbage patch moment.

Before
After

A day about which I’ve dreamt extensively has arrived! Jaw surgery is over, I’m home from the hospital, and Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America!
A girl couldn’t ask for a better Friday.
Milestones
Wednesday November 5th
7:30 a.m. My maxillary osteotomy (upper jaw surgery) with Dr. Kasey Li, one of the best [...]