I'll try to keep this short since I am also doing a vlog with the post, but you know how things go with me and keeping posts short. Saw my surgeon today for my 3 month post op check up. Six weeks since my last visit with him. I also saw my ortho unexpectedly since my surgeon agreed that my bite was slightly opening on my left side but nothing awful in the least. He said since I was going right past my ortho's office on the way home I might as well stop by and see what he says. But otherwise.... he said my bite is near perfect and he was really happy with everything. Bite....perfect...... same sentence. I feel like I have to freaking pinch myself!!
All checks out well. My surgeon looked pretty happy again and said I look great aside from the normal residual puff/swelling I've got going on still in some areas. I took a new pano and that looks great too and he said my bones are healing nicely still and the hardware looks good. I can really see the deviated septum on this pano, so I asked him about when I should get that fixed. He said he likes to wait a year to let all the scar tissue settle and everything else. I would need to get with an ENT to fix it. Bbboooo....I was hoping Dr. Karas could do it! I don't want to go through the anxiety of getting with a new doc that I don't trust. Hopefully Dr. Karas can give me the name of somebody he trusts, so therefor I would trust. He's happy with my opening, and happy to hear the numbness and nerve issues are shrinking back in to the original strip of permanent numbness and tingling I had left from the first surgery along my right side of my lower lip/chin. I asked him about the pea sized hard lump that was up around the orbital rim area under my right eye, and he said if that hasn't resolved by now it's probably not a hematoma and could be a bone spur or the very edge of that plate and screw set under there. So, we'll address more at my next appointment, which will be in 3 months! Gah! 3 months not seeing Dr. Karas makes me feel vulnerable...but a LOT less so than before. I think I am at the point now where I am ready to fly on my own and not need those constant checks and reassurances that all is the way it's supposed to be this time.
My ortho was nice enough to squeeze me in unannounced. And again, I think he was glad I stopped by. He knows when I stop in it's usually not for nothing. He agrees my bottom jaw was slacking back again. He thinks because I was SO compliant with wearing my elastics, to just almost take them off cold turkey was abrupt and just allowed things to float where they wanted. We'll ease off of them next time and hopefully that will transition things slower to stay where they need to be. I really hope that is the case....scary to think I could be out of braces and no elastics and my bite just floats back and I relapse. I freaking hope not!
Vlog and pics below. I went ahead and chopped the rest of the mop off the top of my head, so now I am officially back to full pixie! :) Don't mind the tired eyes in the vlog, today is my third day in a row coming off of 5 hours of crappy sleep before my 4:45am shift at work. God, I can't wait to work a job where I am not doing crazy hours!
All checks out well. My surgeon looked pretty happy again and said I look great aside from the normal residual puff/swelling I've got going on still in some areas. I took a new pano and that looks great too and he said my bones are healing nicely still and the hardware looks good. I can really see the deviated septum on this pano, so I asked him about when I should get that fixed. He said he likes to wait a year to let all the scar tissue settle and everything else. I would need to get with an ENT to fix it. Bbboooo....I was hoping Dr. Karas could do it! I don't want to go through the anxiety of getting with a new doc that I don't trust. Hopefully Dr. Karas can give me the name of somebody he trusts, so therefor I would trust. He's happy with my opening, and happy to hear the numbness and nerve issues are shrinking back in to the original strip of permanent numbness and tingling I had left from the first surgery along my right side of my lower lip/chin. I asked him about the pea sized hard lump that was up around the orbital rim area under my right eye, and he said if that hasn't resolved by now it's probably not a hematoma and could be a bone spur or the very edge of that plate and screw set under there. So, we'll address more at my next appointment, which will be in 3 months! Gah! 3 months not seeing Dr. Karas makes me feel vulnerable...but a LOT less so than before. I think I am at the point now where I am ready to fly on my own and not need those constant checks and reassurances that all is the way it's supposed to be this time.
My ortho was nice enough to squeeze me in unannounced. And again, I think he was glad I stopped by. He knows when I stop in it's usually not for nothing. He agrees my bottom jaw was slacking back again. He thinks because I was SO compliant with wearing my elastics, to just almost take them off cold turkey was abrupt and just allowed things to float where they wanted. We'll ease off of them next time and hopefully that will transition things slower to stay where they need to be. I really hope that is the case....scary to think I could be out of braces and no elastics and my bite just floats back and I relapse. I freaking hope not!
Vlog and pics below. I went ahead and chopped the rest of the mop off the top of my head, so now I am officially back to full pixie! :) Don't mind the tired eyes in the vlog, today is my third day in a row coming off of 5 hours of crappy sleep before my 4:45am shift at work. God, I can't wait to work a job where I am not doing crazy hours!
And here is a few comparisons thanks to fb memories showing a few posts to me the last couple of days. I don't even look like the same person in some of these pics, which gives me mixed emotions. I am not 100% a fan of all of the visual changes that came with aligning my bite/jaws. I do miss a lot of my old face. I feel like it was more youthful, and for the love of god, I miss the more narrow nose before any of the jaw work. BUT, it doesn't matter, I am so grateful to be able to bite through some foods I've never bit through cleanly before. A few aesthetic changes I don't like is fair price to pay for the function, IMO.
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