Wanted to include a quick little tid bit here about plate removal since I just went through it and can now write about that. It's another popular topic on message boards and forums as well, so good to address it here regardless.
Your hardware is meant to stay for the rest of your life if it doesn't give you any issues. My first set of hardware was under so much torque that I literally had a screw go "PING" right out of my cheek one day around 8 or 9 months post op from my first jaw surgery. And then it was a little sore after that, not to mention I would touch it and catch it with a towel if I was drying my face and all. It definitely did not feel good, but I toughed that out for another year until I had my full revision surgery where that hardware was removed and the new hardware replaced it. That made sense for my case then, but in a normal case they would have gone in and removed the bothersome hardware. If it becomes inflamed, infected, loose, etc, they'll go in and take it out. Unfortunately my revision hardware was bothersome. I have messed up sinuses and both sets of hardware around my sinuses have bothered me in terms of pressure and just not feeling natural at all. For revision, my surgeon only had so much good bone to work with and because of the nature of my revision, he used larger than normal screws to make sure I got good rigid fixation AND had to place the hardware a little higher than he normally does. This put a screw sticking out right under my eye. Even in my first week post op swelling I was catching the screw and it was giving me the heeby jeebies. By the time all of my swelling went down, I seriously wanted it gone. Due to the slower bone healing, my surgeon made me wait until I was a year post op. I found out after my surgeon was in to get the hardware that it was actually loose, which is probably why that set bugged me too, so both of us are glad we went in and got them before any abscess/infection could pop up. I got the plates and screws around my nose out a week shy of my 1 year post op mark.
I underestimated plate removal surgery. I went in to it very cocky thinking it was going to be absolutely nothing compared to either jaw surgery. I was wrong! Maybe because my surgeon really had to manhandle me and do a LOT of tugging/stretching to get plate/screw sets that were all the way up just under my eyes, but I actually ended up having a pretty rough recovery for this. So, like everything else surgery, your mileage may vary. Each patient is different, but this was my experience. First, the numbness after jaw surgery is a blessing in disguise. I had full feeling after plate removal. You can feel EVERYTHING. I woke up from IV anteshtesia immediately swollen and bruised under my right eye and within about 15 minutes my face was throbbing and my front teeth were aching/throbbing. My incisions were sore (despite the numbness) after both jaw surgeries, but without being numb I could feel the full brunt of soreness for plate removal. I was stitched pretty much all the way across my top jaw again (With a tiny gap under my nose. My surgeon essentially started from my nasal midline and cut back to my second molar on each side). My swelling wasn't awful, but peaked much worse on my right than I anticipated. Like jaw surgery, days 2-3 were the worst. I also didn't help myself out any here this time. I didn't sleep upright like after jaw surgery. I wasn't icing as much either. Looking back I wish I had done more of both of those things. I really did not need much pain meds for jaw surgery, but I was taking Norco every 4 hours the first few days after plate removal. And same as jaw surgery, by day 4-5 I was off of pain meds or any kind of pain reliever completely. I hate to admit it, but this was rougher than my over confident and cocky self expected. I was pretty miserable for about 3 days. My stitches fell out much faster than either jaw surgery. By day 7 post op I lost all of my stitches and my sutures felt as healed as they did by weeks 2-3 or even 4 for jaw surgery. I was also back to eating normally too after being on bone broth and soft foods for the week.
So, I hear a lot of people asking the same questions on forums time and again and figured I would try to answer some of them by telling you how plate removal went for me. I only got the set on each side of my nose taken out and the other sets in the top jaw and lower jaw are still happily in their little homes......for now, and hopefully it stays that way!! A lot of people are wondering how to prepare for plate removal. It's definitely not as involved as jaw surgery! Plan for an hour in your surgeons office. I want to say I was in and out in about an hour and 15 minutes. This included all of my prep time, IV anesthesia, a few minutes in recovery, etc. Plan on a long weekend to recover. I for sure was not doing anything the first 3-4 days. I didn't even want to get out of the house because I looked like a battered wife that somebody was going to call the cops for. So, give yourself a long weekend off to recover. Maybe get the surgery done on Weds of your work week and plan to be off through the weekend and go back Monday. Plan to have some broths and soft foods. I did bone broth the first few days just to keep the incisions clean and not gunked with something like a broccoli cheese soup that wold get stuck everywhere in there. Plan to get your pain meds asap. For me I had some on me already and was taking it as soon as I got in the car to go home. Pick up some green juices or prune juice to offset the undesirable side effects everybody loves from pain meds. I brushed and flossed pretty normally despite how incredibly sore I was the first few days. I rinsed same as I did after revision, with half peroxide and half water. To this day I still use the peroxide as a rinse in my every day oral care. It's kept my gums looking great and it's natural and affordable!
Here is a progression of how things looked over the week after plate removal. My left side was about what I was expecting to see/feel, but my right side really surprised me in terms of the swelling, bruising, and pain! It was all worth it though. I am VERY glad to have those plates/screws out. I no longer have this weird pressure around my nose any more (esp when bending my head over) AND I don't have to touch that plate sticking out under my eye anymore! :)
Your hardware is meant to stay for the rest of your life if it doesn't give you any issues. My first set of hardware was under so much torque that I literally had a screw go "PING" right out of my cheek one day around 8 or 9 months post op from my first jaw surgery. And then it was a little sore after that, not to mention I would touch it and catch it with a towel if I was drying my face and all. It definitely did not feel good, but I toughed that out for another year until I had my full revision surgery where that hardware was removed and the new hardware replaced it. That made sense for my case then, but in a normal case they would have gone in and removed the bothersome hardware. If it becomes inflamed, infected, loose, etc, they'll go in and take it out. Unfortunately my revision hardware was bothersome. I have messed up sinuses and both sets of hardware around my sinuses have bothered me in terms of pressure and just not feeling natural at all. For revision, my surgeon only had so much good bone to work with and because of the nature of my revision, he used larger than normal screws to make sure I got good rigid fixation AND had to place the hardware a little higher than he normally does. This put a screw sticking out right under my eye. Even in my first week post op swelling I was catching the screw and it was giving me the heeby jeebies. By the time all of my swelling went down, I seriously wanted it gone. Due to the slower bone healing, my surgeon made me wait until I was a year post op. I found out after my surgeon was in to get the hardware that it was actually loose, which is probably why that set bugged me too, so both of us are glad we went in and got them before any abscess/infection could pop up. I got the plates and screws around my nose out a week shy of my 1 year post op mark.
I underestimated plate removal surgery. I went in to it very cocky thinking it was going to be absolutely nothing compared to either jaw surgery. I was wrong! Maybe because my surgeon really had to manhandle me and do a LOT of tugging/stretching to get plate/screw sets that were all the way up just under my eyes, but I actually ended up having a pretty rough recovery for this. So, like everything else surgery, your mileage may vary. Each patient is different, but this was my experience. First, the numbness after jaw surgery is a blessing in disguise. I had full feeling after plate removal. You can feel EVERYTHING. I woke up from IV anteshtesia immediately swollen and bruised under my right eye and within about 15 minutes my face was throbbing and my front teeth were aching/throbbing. My incisions were sore (despite the numbness) after both jaw surgeries, but without being numb I could feel the full brunt of soreness for plate removal. I was stitched pretty much all the way across my top jaw again (With a tiny gap under my nose. My surgeon essentially started from my nasal midline and cut back to my second molar on each side). My swelling wasn't awful, but peaked much worse on my right than I anticipated. Like jaw surgery, days 2-3 were the worst. I also didn't help myself out any here this time. I didn't sleep upright like after jaw surgery. I wasn't icing as much either. Looking back I wish I had done more of both of those things. I really did not need much pain meds for jaw surgery, but I was taking Norco every 4 hours the first few days after plate removal. And same as jaw surgery, by day 4-5 I was off of pain meds or any kind of pain reliever completely. I hate to admit it, but this was rougher than my over confident and cocky self expected. I was pretty miserable for about 3 days. My stitches fell out much faster than either jaw surgery. By day 7 post op I lost all of my stitches and my sutures felt as healed as they did by weeks 2-3 or even 4 for jaw surgery. I was also back to eating normally too after being on bone broth and soft foods for the week.
So, I hear a lot of people asking the same questions on forums time and again and figured I would try to answer some of them by telling you how plate removal went for me. I only got the set on each side of my nose taken out and the other sets in the top jaw and lower jaw are still happily in their little homes......for now, and hopefully it stays that way!! A lot of people are wondering how to prepare for plate removal. It's definitely not as involved as jaw surgery! Plan for an hour in your surgeons office. I want to say I was in and out in about an hour and 15 minutes. This included all of my prep time, IV anesthesia, a few minutes in recovery, etc. Plan on a long weekend to recover. I for sure was not doing anything the first 3-4 days. I didn't even want to get out of the house because I looked like a battered wife that somebody was going to call the cops for. So, give yourself a long weekend off to recover. Maybe get the surgery done on Weds of your work week and plan to be off through the weekend and go back Monday. Plan to have some broths and soft foods. I did bone broth the first few days just to keep the incisions clean and not gunked with something like a broccoli cheese soup that wold get stuck everywhere in there. Plan to get your pain meds asap. For me I had some on me already and was taking it as soon as I got in the car to go home. Pick up some green juices or prune juice to offset the undesirable side effects everybody loves from pain meds. I brushed and flossed pretty normally despite how incredibly sore I was the first few days. I rinsed same as I did after revision, with half peroxide and half water. To this day I still use the peroxide as a rinse in my every day oral care. It's kept my gums looking great and it's natural and affordable!
Here is a progression of how things looked over the week after plate removal. My left side was about what I was expecting to see/feel, but my right side really surprised me in terms of the swelling, bruising, and pain! It was all worth it though. I am VERY glad to have those plates/screws out. I no longer have this weird pressure around my nose any more (esp when bending my head over) AND I don't have to touch that plate sticking out under my eye anymore! :)
**** 1 month Post Plate removal update ****
1 month post plate removal! I still have a little bit of puff. Bruising was gone about 2 weeks ago. My surgeon checked me a week out and said everything was healing beautifully and he did confirm that both sets of hardware were loose, so he's glad he went in and got them before they later infected and/or abscessed. I'd say biggest issue for me right now is I am still slightly tender and I have had some weird nerve issues going on surprisingly. I wasn't expecting anything like that like I had with the jaw surgery itself, so just one more thing I under estimated. I haven't asked my surgeon about this either and just assume it's par for the course with this. I actually have pretty significant desensitized feeling from just under my eye and down to just to the side of my nose. Pretty much where the hardware was screwed in in both spots. When I press on those spots, it sends a twinge of numbness vertically in both directions. When I wear my sunglasses it brushes up against my right cheek and makes it feel funny. Again, I am not totally worried about it and, like after jaw surgery, assume it's the nerves all bruised/irritated and will come back around slowly in the next month or two. Feeling in my upper face was usually back by 2 months or so post op, so I'll give this at least until then before getting worried. Glad to be coming back around from this and excited to drop the lingering puff that is left over and get the rest of the feeling back in my right cheek and under my eye. Still really glad I did this. Feels SO much better not feeling the pressure around this hardware and not feeling that stupid screw sticking out every day all day!! :)