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.
November 7, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Sam, have you asked your doctor about transdermal meds? My pain and nausea meds were administered this way for the first couple of weeks.
November 7, 2011 at 6:02 pm
Sam, have you asked your doctor about dermal patches? My surgeon had me on pain and nausea meds trans-dermally. Best thing, I didn’t have to worry about that aspect until I was able to step down to oral meds weeks later.
November 7, 2011 at 11:32 am
thanks for all the posts. everything is so encouraging. I am feeling kind of down right now. I just simply cannot take the meds – it takes everything out of me not to puke. I know it gets better but WOW I just had no idea. I need to eat more so I can get some strength up. THannks.
November 7, 2011 at 1:53 am
It’s so good to hear that your sleep apnea was cured on top of your jaw being fixed, Robin! You definitely killed two birds with one stone.
It’s nice to see someone so happy after just 19 days. If you can maintain this sort of attitude, the rest of it will be child’s play for you!
Keep smiling, my friend!
November 7, 2011 at 1:00 am
Great post-op resource, Graham & love your positive encouragement. I’m 50 years old & 19 days dual-jaw post-op. My initial surgery was to correct an open bite, but my surgeon later discovered I also had sleep apnea & said he could correct it, too. I wasn’t counting on it but I can attest that my breathing (minus the slight nasal congestion) is better than ever…AMAZING!
Thanks for the healing time frame perspective–I’ll have to live with the numbness in the roof of my mouth, inside right cheek, lower chin and lower lip for a little longer. The restlessness and the teeth-tingling is annoying but glad to know it happens. I stayed in the hospital overnight. Heavy bruising appeared 2 days post-op on my right lower jaw down to my throat. It’s all but cleared up now & the swelling has gone down significantly.
To other patients, I dealt with the nausea for the first couple of days by rinsing out the blood in my mouth as often as possible with plain warm water, warm salt water & the prescribed medicated mouth rinse. I react to anesthesia and the anti-nausea patch didn’t help me. I couldn’t take any of my prescribed liquid meds–it upset my tummy. Eating (albeit liquids) and drinking is key to the early recovery stages–your body needs it. Afrin, saline nasal spray & another prescribed nasal spray has helped with keeping my nasal passages comfortable. Medicated lip balm is a must. Take your time when starting soft foods–relearning chewing with your new jaw is a challenge–I bit & rebit the inside of my lips & cheeks a bunch of times–they’re numb but swollen because I keep re-injuring the same areas. I don’t have problems with my vision, but my Dr. said that it’s a possible post-op complication. The Dr. also said that it takes about a year for the bones to heal completely.
As Graham said, it does get better and I’m so glad I had the surgery…completely life changing (for the better).
November 6, 2011 at 10:34 pm
Feeling like a truck hit you is probably the most common description given of what a person feels like post-op. Think of the day you’ll be able to tell people you were hit by a truck and survived though!
November 6, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Right now I can drink Water really well and milk but the medicines. I am having such a hard time not gagging. I would so rather have a shot 5 times a day then to do the syringes. I am so swollen. I feel like a mac truck hit me today. I know it gets better but I dread everytime I have to take medicine.
November 6, 2011 at 12:59 am
You’re on the road to recovery now, Sam! Remember, these first two weeks will most definitely be frustrating, but try to drink as much fluids as you can and go for walks every single day. Soon, you’ll be back to normal life and be missing the break!
November 5, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Surgery day has come and gone. I had surgery on the upper and lower jaw. They widened the back of my upper and moved my lower jaw forward. I am really swolen – I look like a Macy’s hot air balloon in my face. I go see doc on Tuesday – the worst part of it right now is the swelling of course and when I have to cough it is really phlemy and bloody – really gross.
October 30, 2011 at 8:51 pm
Most of my feeling was back within 6 weeks. Residual areas regained sensitivity by the 4-month mark. I still have a minor numb patches on my chin and bottom lip and I don’t expect feeling to return to those areas.
October 30, 2011 at 8:14 pm
About how long did it take before you recovered feeling in your gums and mouth?
October 30, 2011 at 11:59 am
Hayley, I’m not entirely sure. You might be able to drink from a cup right away. One thing you can be of is that you won’t be eating solid foods for a few weeks.
October 30, 2011 at 10:39 am
Hia I have just been told that I’m getting lower jaw surgery sometime next year do you think I will have to use a syringe like you did even thought its only one jaw ? X
October 20, 2011 at 1:45 pm
I wore my bands for about 10 weeks and wasn’t able to eat soft foods for 7 weeks. Most people can start eating soft foods a lot sooner than that.
October 20, 2011 at 1:37 pm
About how long did you guys have to wear the bands? What week will I be able to start eating soft foods?
October 20, 2011 at 12:12 am
Wow, Sam, your day of reckoning is almost here! I received the same response from several people. Most people just assume the that it’s a vanity operation and there’s really nothing you can do to change their mind. It’s not their life, so they don’t have a lot of say in it anyway.
I’d just ignore these people, go ahead with the operation, and when all is said and done, you’ll be happy with your results. And the comments from the cheap seats will draft away as quickly as they came. =)
October 19, 2011 at 8:24 pm
2 weeks to go until Surgery and everyone has been pretty supportive but I am getting the whole I don’t want you to do this. You don’t need it…blah blah blah. How did you handle the people who really just don’t understand? I am not doubting my decision I have wanted this for so long but for some reason they are making me feel bad about doing this. I know everything will be fine with surgery but there are always risks and I know that. they just don’t undersatnd. I guess I need to vent, I am kind of down about it.
October 19, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Good to meet you, Adam.
Your recovery sounds very similar to mine, at least at this point in time. I drooled non-stop for the first 2 weeks as well. I remember going to the movies with my parents on one of those early days and having to bring a cloth with me to wipe my drool up throughout the show. Uncomfortable.
Your drooling will stop soon, I can assure you of that. 2-3 weeks is as long as it should last for anybody–you just have the privilege of being on the tail end of that estimate. As soon as your feeling begins to return, the drooling will subside in a big way.
As for your vision, I honestly have no idea. My guess is that your body is spending so much energy on healing your jaw that some of your other senses aren’t operating optimally (much like when you’re sick with the flu). In any case, I’d give your surgeon’s office a call and ask them.
October 19, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Hey man, I had my surgery last tuesday Oct 11th. So it’s been a little over a week and healing has really kinda sucked for me so far. I had upper and lower Jaw surgery to correct my underbite. My biggest issue that I can’t stop drooling. I’m not having very much pain at all. I actually stopped taking my pain medicine the 2nd day I got out of the hospital. But with my drooling problem I can’t sleep or really do anything with out having a to wear some form of wrap around my face. Any recommendations? And also I have had perfect 20 20 vision my entire life but ever since my surgery everything seems pretty blurry. Is this a temporary thing or something I should go have checked out? Thanks
October 19, 2011 at 2:55 pm
Start the countdown to brace-removal day! Dibs being on the guest list!