Side Effects That May Occur After Contouring Surgery and the Appropriate Solutions

Hello, this is Director Jo Hyun-woo of Ipcheok Plastic Surgery.

I have previously talked about the various side effects that can appear after contouring surgery, such as zygoma reduction surgery, square jaw surgery, and chin surgery.

Today, I will talk about whether there are simple ways to address those side effects.

As I always say, contouring surgery is a surgery that reduces volume.

When volume is reduced, the bones become smaller while the skin and fat remain the same, so sagging can occur, just as volume decreases with aging.

To reduce sagging, various surgical techniques are used. For zygoma reduction surgery, the cheekbone may be fixed upward. For square jaw surgery, the periosteum is pulled upward and fixed. For chin surgery, it is pulled upward together with the muscle and fixed.

However, the reality is that some degree of sagging can still appear, and many doctors, including myself, are making efforts to address it.

Then, what is the best way to resolve this kind of sagging?

There are many different ways to treat sagging.

They range from simple laser lifting procedures to the widely used thread lifting, and also mini lifts and facelifts, which many people are getting these days. When I explain how to address this sagging, I use the shape of a pyramid.

If you look at a pyramid, the base is very wide and it becomes narrower toward the top.

Plastic surgery is the same.

In the case of sagging as well, if the degree of sagging is not severe, corrective surgery can be performed in many different ways, like the lower part of the pyramid.

But the more surgeries you have, the fewer options remain, like the top of the pyramid.

Therefore, I usually tell patients to start with the simplest procedure.

In cases where the surgery was accurately planned and performed without problems, I assume that even if sagging exists, it will not be severe, so I recommend starting with laser lifting procedures. These days, many people seem to undergo Ulthera or InMode lifting.

Next, I recommend thread lifting.

The area where sagging appears after zygoma reduction surgery is often the upper part of the nasolabial area.

In such cases, thread lifting can be enough to correct it. Of course, thread lifting has the disadvantage of a short maintenance period, but I think it can provide sufficient correction when the sagging is not severe.

When performing zygoma reduction surgery, there is an area that is dissected, so if thread lifting is done at the same time as the surgery, good results are often achieved.

However, because swelling after zygoma reduction surgery makes it difficult to see the lifting result right away, I recommend waiting until the swelling has fully gone down and then having the procedure after 6 months.

If satisfactory results cannot be achieved even after laser lifting and thread lifting, then a facelift can be considered as a last option.

However, since a facelift is not a procedure that can be repeated many times, it would be better to make a careful decision before proceeding.

Cheek hollowing patient

Another side effect that may occur after zygoma reduction surgery is cheek hollowing.

In fact, most people already have some degree of cheek hollowing.

There are many ligaments in our face, and the ligament attached to the cheekbone is the zygomatic cutaneous ligament.

When the cheekbone rotates inward, patients in whom this ligament is strongly pulling may appear to have more severe cheek hollowing.

Also, not only this ligament but also in people whose salivary gland and skin are very tightly adhered, this cheek hollowing may appear more pronounced.

There are ways to address this cheek hollowing as well, so it would be good to start with simple methods.

Next, I will talk about tissue sagging and laxity that can appear after square jaw surgery and chin surgery.

In fact, square jaw surgery and chin surgery are not procedures that cause sagging to be visible from the front of the face.

What patients usually say is that the jawline has become less defined, or that the double chin has become more noticeable.

Since square jaw surgery is a procedure that reduces volume, the jawline will inevitably appear softer than when the square jaw was protruding.

However, if too much bone is removed or if there is not much facial fat, that impression is much less noticeable.

Before and after square jaw surgery and chin surgery

The most important thing to prevent this is, of course, not to cut the square jaw too much.

If the facial fat makes it look less defined, a simple fat-dissolving injection can be used.

There are also fat-dissolving injections such as contour injections and V-OLET, so you can start with these simple methods.

Before and after zygoma reduction surgery, square jaw surgery, chin surgery, and double chin liposuction

If that is not enough, the issue can be addressed through liposuction.

If liposuction is performed on the cheeks, jawline, and double chin area, you can clearly see the contour line become more defined.

Before and after square jaw surgery and chin surgery

If the skin has sagged significantly and the double chin or jawline looks less defined, as mentioned in the solution for cheek sagging after zygoma reduction surgery, you can start with laser lifting.

Recently, I have often been performing neck lifting using ElastiQm.

It has been reported that when ElastiQm threads are used after removing some of the fat by liposuction, the maintenance period is longer and the results are maintained well over time, so it may be a good option.

Today, we looked in order at the ways to address sagging after contouring surgery.

Rather than starting with a major surgery at the top of the pyramid, if you begin with procedures at the base level, I think your concerns can be resolved more easily and simply. Thank you.