Recovery Tips
Following is a summary of the most important things I learned during my recovery from double jaw surgery.
- Drink lots of prune juice and water. Your toilet time will be far from enjoyable for the first couple of weeks because you’re likely to be severely dehydrated. The prune juice will provide your body with the fiber it needs to work those bowels properly, but fiber is useless without water because it won’t dissolve in your body. I recommend a bare minimum of 1 L of water per day. Drink 2 L per day as soon as you can.
- Before you attempt to pull any dead skin off of your lips, be absolutely certain that it’s not a stitch. I learned this the hard way.
- Start using medicated lip balm immediately following your return to your own home. If you don’t, you’ll end up with flaps of dead skin that are half an inch in diameter, and I promise you they won’t feel good when they catch on your braces.
- Apply heat to your face 3-4 times per day for the first 5-6 weeks to help with the swelling. The heat will also help you fall asleep.
- Begin each day at a decent time. If you sleep most of the day, you won’t be able to sleep at night, and you’ll hate yourself for it. Get out of bed, shower, eat some breakfast and brush your teeth and you’ll enjoy each day a lot more. (This is good advice for any day of your life, but it especially applies when you’re on the verge of depression from having jaw surgery.)
- Go to bed on time. Yawning will cause you quite a bit of pain, so prevent it by getting the right amount of sleep during the proper hours.
- As soon as you’re able to talk clearly enough for friends and family to understand you, call people and be social. Go outside and enjoy nature. Whatever you do, ensure you don’t fall into a trap of loneliness and self-pity.
- Start drinking from a cup as soon as you’re physically able to. Your upwards trek back to having full energy begins the day you can throw your syringes in the garbage.
- Eat solid food as soon as your surgeon gives you the go-ahead. It’ll be a slow, tedious and frustrating process, but you need to go through with it in order to build your jaw muscles back up and learn how to chew properly once again.
- It may take some time to get used to your new smile and your newly structured face. Don’t be ashamed of yourself. You don’t look funny at all. You’re simply not used to looking like you’re supposed to.
- And lastly, don’t worry about your looks, bite or facial feeling for at least 6 months. You may have an open bite, but you’ll wake up one morning and your teeth will have migrated back together. You may be completely numb, but feeling will return almost overnight.
If you have any questions about the recovery process, or perhaps have other pointers to share with upcoming jaw surgery patients, feel free to jot them down in the comments.
June 6, 2011 at 9:45 am
Hi Graham,
My good friend is getting double-jaw surgery next week and she is very nervous about the procedure and especially the recovery. From your experience, what are some things I can do to make her recovery more bearable?
Thanks for this blog by the way, it’s very reassuring to hear the different experiences everyone has with this surgery.
June 5, 2011 at 8:16 pm
Patty, you’ll have to discuss tooth pain with your surgeon or orthodontist, but I know some of my teeth felt a bit loose initially. They’re all strong now, though.
June 5, 2011 at 7:40 pm
my teeth hurt, it feels like they are moving around. Is that something that happens? When I swallow one tooth in particular hurts and feels like it moves if I swallow wrong.
June 5, 2011 at 4:02 pm
Hi Becky. You’re so lucky that you could eat soft foods right from the get go! One of the perks of upper-only jaw surgery, I suppose.
June 5, 2011 at 4:01 pm
Patty, you won’t be able to open your mouth really wide for a good 2 – 3 months. The muscles around your jaw and cheeks have tightened up and it’ll take a few months to stretch them back to a usable state.
Not being able to open your mouth at 17 days post op is completely normal.
June 5, 2011 at 11:27 am
Hi just wanted to thank you for a great website have been following it for about 6 months now I am today on day 4 of recovery (top jaw surgery) swollen,sore and a very blood filled nose but a least I’m not banded or wired so I can eat soft foods thanks again you made a difference x
June 5, 2011 at 6:55 am
17 days after and the tingling in my face is driving me nuts as well as my teeth hurting. I can’t open my mouth very far without being in pain, how do they fix that?
June 4, 2011 at 12:13 pm
thankz =)
June 3, 2011 at 10:01 pm
Hi there Telly!
That’s definitely one of the worst parts of the first couple of months of this recovery. Be sure you don’t blow you nose though, because it’s possible you’ll break the blood clots and that will be a lot worse than a little bit of mucus floating around.
Your mouth will be pretty stagnant for the first few weeks (until you can drink from a cup). At that point you can begin drinking enough water to wash everything down. Soon after that, you’ll be able to swish water around and regain the ability to spit (which will be a glorious day, trust me!).
Just hang in there!
June 3, 2011 at 6:12 pm
Im 19 years old and I had upper and lower jaw surgery may 26, 2011. My whole mouth is banded shut and I am on an all liquid diet for 4 weeks. My doctor instructed me that I couldnt blow my nose so all the mucus that accumulates from my nose just slides down the back of my throat and sometimes into my mouth. Once its in my mouth I cant swallow or spit it out since my whole jaw is banded. I feel really disgusting and I dont know what to do =/
May 30, 2011 at 3:50 am
Graham. Thanks for the great site. Reading all the helpful advice and experiences has been great. Trying to prepare myself for the best experience I can make this. Thank you!
May 30, 2011 at 3:48 am
John Shepard. I noticed your blog several days ago and am curious as to how you are doing. I am 45 years old and will be going in for my surgery in just two short weeks. Have you found your recovery to be slower due to being older? Worried about a slower recovery keeping me out of work… How are you doing.
May 29, 2011 at 9:52 pm
Howdy Patty,
Feeling will take a few months to come back (and it returns gradually), so be patient with it.
You can use a straw as soon as you’re able. It took me about 3 weeks before I could actually form suction around a straw, but everyone else has been able to use one long before me.
May 29, 2011 at 9:51 pm
Hi again Azita!
I wouldn’t worry until your swelling goes down a bit more. Give it another month or so before you give any time to this matter. Once you have a bit more movement, you might find the tissue breaks apart by itself.
Best of luck!
May 29, 2011 at 7:08 pm
I love the blog here. I was looking for when I can feel my face again. I am 11 days after double jaw surgery. I crave meat sandwiches! Is it OK to use a straw now? I got dehydrated because it took to long to drink with the syringe. Now I get a lot more liquid in me.
May 29, 2011 at 6:52 pm
Hi Graham =)
Thanks for the advice you gave me a few weeks ago. I am now almost at my 4th week of recovery! It is bittersweet. It is sweet in knowing the hard part is finally over! The first 2 weeks were so miserable – even with a (mostly) positive attitude! However, I still am far from where I would like to be.
I was wondering if you had come across anyone who underwent jaw surgery and had problems with their lips afterwards? I have tried googling it, but to no avail. Ever since I had my surgery, my lips have not been able to touch. I can scrunch them together, but obviously that doesn’t look natural/normal. My surgeon said he would give it time to heal, but I might need to have ANOTHER surgery to loosen the tissue on my lips – or something like that. It makes me sad because I really don’t want to go through that process again! :S
May 27, 2011 at 8:10 am
Ah, the tight muscles are so frustrating! The spasms are a little painful as well.
I found the only thing that helped in this area was to use heat packs on my face as often as possible throughout the day (and definitely every night when you sleep).
The tight muscles will go away by about the second month and then you’ll be in good shape!
May 27, 2011 at 7:20 am
Hi Graham…love your blog. I’ve been feeling kind of blah the last couple of days and reading your twist on everything has definetly helped me smile a bit. I had double jaw surgery and genioplasty 10 days ago. My biggest complaint right now is the tightening and pulling of my cheek muscles. Did you have this and did you find anything that helps it go away?
May 26, 2011 at 1:41 pm
I remember getting all excited when I was first allowed to eat soft foods again, but I failed at it just like you.
Start with things like chicken noodle soup. You won’t be eating actual solid food for another week or two yet. Practice chewing and take your time and you’ll be back into things like pasta in no time at all!
May 26, 2011 at 1:13 pm
Hi again! So 2 and a half weeks in and I had a check up yesterday and my surgeon gave me the go to start eating soft foods. I was obviously very happy about this. So I tried eating KD but that was an epic fail 🙁 It kind of got lost inside my mouth and it was just so frustrating! Any tips on what are good to eat right now?
PS. Thanks for the advice on the unscented lotion! The rash is almost all gone 🙂