Facial Contouring Swelling, When Can I Go Back to Work? - A Specialist Explains Directly [입체성형외과]

Hello, I’m Director Jo Hyun-woo of 입체성형외과.

Today, I’d like to explain facial contouring swelling and the recovery period after surgery, which many people are curious about, along with actual patient photos.

As many textbooks mention, the time it takes for facial contouring swelling to go down is almost the same for nearly all patients. You can think of the post-surgery recovery period as the time our body spends fighting swelling and winning.

In general, facial contouring swelling continues to increase until 72 hours after surgery, then begins to subside from the fourth day. And about one week after surgery, the larger swelling has usually gone down to some extent.

I’ll explain with actual patient photos.

[입체성형외과] Facial contouring swelling, 5 days after surgery, frontal effect of contouring surgery

This photo was taken on postoperative day 5 after facial contouring surgery.

[입체성형외과] Facial contouring swelling, 2 weeks after surgery, frontal effect of contouring surgery

And this photo was taken at the 2-week mark. You can see that the larger swelling has gone down, right?

At this stage, facial contouring swelling appears to go down partially and remain partially swollen across the face. So even after surgery, the facial shape may still look somewhat uneven, and you may worry that the surgical result seems minimal.

However, after about a month, as shown in the photo below, the swelling subsides enough for the surgical result to become visible.

[입체성형외과] Facial contouring swelling, 1 month after surgery, frontal effect of contouring surgery

Next is a photo of the patient at the 3-month point after surgery. As you can see, the swelling has almost completely gone down, so it does not look like they had surgery.

[입체성형외과] Facial contouring swelling, 3 months after surgery, frontal effect of contouring surgery

Is the recovery period the same for all surgeries?

To get straight to the point, swelling after almost all surgeries is quite similar. The process by which swelling goes down after facial contouring, eye surgery, and nose surgery is all the same, but depending on the size of the surgical area, the swelling may look more severe or less severe.

For example, in the case of eye surgery, since it is a relatively small area compared to the entire face, the swelling appears much less noticeable.

However, in the case of a contouring triplet surgery that performs zygoma, square jaw, and chin surgery all at once, the entire front of the face is operated on, so the swelling appears more severe.

In fact, the recovery process of facial contouring swelling is like the healing process of a wound on our body.

If you analyze the table below, it basically says, “Around 2 to 3 months, almost all of it has gone down.” ^^

Then are all clinics that advertise less facial contouring swelling lying?

In fact, swelling is truly influenced by each individual patient’s characteristics.

I have been doing facial contouring for more than 10 years... and even with the exact same surgery, some patients swell a lot while others hardly swell at all. There are differences like that.

Depending on the individual, some people bleed a little, and some people’s blood does not clot well. If there is a lot of fat in the face, there may be more swelling... differences like these can occur.

But the most important thing, I think, is the “surgery time.”

No matter how small the surgery is, if it takes a long time and the process is lengthy, stimulating the tissue, the swelling can only last longer.

Facial contouring surgery is generally called a major surgery, but if the actual surgery can be completed within 1.5 to 2 hours, then even a large operation can recover with minimal swelling.

However, if the surgeon has limited experience, unnecessary wounds may be made during surgery and the surrounding tissue may be irritated. Also, the less experience there is, the longer the surgery process tends to become.

The best surgery is to finish quickly and accurately without unnecessary delay.. Therefore, saying “our clinic has less swelling” is something I think can only be said by a director who is confident through long experience. ^^

When can I start opening my mouth after surgery?

During recovery, people also often ask about when they can open their mouth. If you have zygoma surgery, at first please be careful not to open your mouth too wide.

As shown in the figure above, the cheekbone is attached to the jawbone together with the masseter muscle. The masseter is the muscle used when speaking or chewing food.

After zygoma surgery, the bones need to properly fuse. However, if you open your mouth wide, movement of the zygomatic arch occurs, which interferes with the bone healing.

But that does not mean you should avoid using your mouth altogether, and as long as you do not open it widely like when yawning, there should be no major problem.

About 6 weeks after surgery, after getting a CT scan and confirming that the bones are properly attached, it is a good idea to start practicing opening your mouth a little wider. If you keep practicing consistently, you should be able to open your mouth as before within about 2 weeks.

When can I return to daily life?

If recovery goes smoothly after surgery without major problems, I tell patients that returning to work is fully possible after about a week. Of course, talking and living at home with your family is usually fine after just 3 to 4 days. If you want it to look as if you never had surgery at all, I think you should consider about a month. ^^

[입체성형외과] Before surgery / 3 months after surgery / frontal effect of contouring surgery

I’ll also show you a photo taken before surgery. Facial contouring surgery is performed with the frontal effect of zygoma surgery and the frontal effect of contouring surgery in mind in order to achieve a high-quality surgical result.

Today, I talked about the recovery period after surgery and swelling. To summarize, swelling after surgery varies depending on each person’s constitution, but it also differs depending on whether the surgeon proceeds without unnecessary delay in surgery time and minimizes damage to surrounding tissue through skill.

Since facial contouring surgery is, after all, a procedure that involves shaving bone, I think many of you may have various questions and concerns ahead of surgery. I have written a separate column about facial contouring complications, so if you need it, please check the link below.

If you have any more questions, please visit the clinic and I will explain them in detail through a consultation. Thank you for reading this long post.