Jaw Surgery Forums » Pre-Surgery Questions

Upcoming SARPE and Upper Jaw advancement - incredibly nervous

(11 posts)
  • Started 5 months ago by f8
  • Latest reply from justafewquestions
12

  1. f8
    Member

    Hey everyone, I'm 19 years old and happen to have a narrow upper pallette and a bit of a underbite, though its really not too bad. I first went for evaluation last summer and got really anxious and nervous just a few days before I was supposed to have the expander in and I cancelled completely. But as time moved on and I realized that everytime I bite my self-conscious reminds me of the problem and it obviously wasn't going to fix itself, I wanted another evaluation. So I went to a different orthodontist and really liked him, he made it sound pretty smooth and assured me that I would be grateful for giving these two years of my life to him in the long run. So I have braces now and have to get my wisdom teeth removed before I can have the surgery, but my ortho said that the surgeon (who happens to specialize in jaw surgerys and has performed many) would be able to perform the SARPE and upper jaw advancement at the same time, requiring only one surgery, again making me feel pretty good about the whole thing.

    But then it happened again. Last night I was in my room and my mind attacked me, scaring the hell out of me. A google search led me to some blogs and posts talking about how much of a regret the surgery was and what not because of the fact that it literally TRANSFORMS YOUR FACE. And thats what I started to trip really, really hard about.

    I'm 19 years old. Thats practically a quarter time of the average human life. The person, and face, that I see and stare and look and critique in the mirror every morning/day/night is completely fine with me. Obviously everybody is self-consious and at times feels one way or another about appearance, but I've come to peace with mine. I enjoy who I see, with one brutal flaw: underbite. And while at first I was down with finally correcting the one flaw, as said my mind started attacking me with freightning thoughts and I said to myself, if I regret this decision I'm really not sure how I would move one with life. So this morning I declared no surgery, I couldn't do it, it couldn't be done.

    But that wasn't a rational decision. I haven't met with the surgeon, or even had a full consultation with the ortho yet. And I realized I need opinions. Experienced, unexperienced, biased, unbiased. I NEED more input on this gigantic life decision and would love to hear all of your thoughts, and if anyone else that has had this what there outcome was with it, how they mentally adjusted to seeing a brand new face compared to what you were accustomed to, and if a minor underbite and narrow pallette is really worth these 2 years of my life.

    Posted 5 months ago #

  2. RachelM
    Member

    I'm 34 and have already got used to my new face after six months. It's tough getting used to it to start with but I have no regrets at all apart from wishing I'd had it done when I was 19!

    Posted 5 months ago #

  3. f8
    Member

    Thats great to hear! I guess the thing I'm tripping about is that most people can't tell that anything is wrong with my bite/teeth/jaw because my teeth are straight albeit narrow and my teeth kind of cross each other, creating a very minor underbite. Therefore, the face I see is really quite fine with me as the underbite does not create a massive chin (though I do have a rather large chin, heh) and would like to have as minimal changes in face as possible, whereas some go into the surgery wanting major facial changes because of either a larger chin or something. Do you think because of what I see as a "minor underbite" i should experience a lot less facial changes, and am I worrying too much about it? Thanks for the feedback! ALSO-would pictures help? I took a few off of my phone last night of my profile and front view

    Posted 5 months ago #

  4. RachelM
    Member

    pictures are always a help! To be honest, I never thought about any changes to my face, just about getting my underbite fixed. So many people told me they didn't think there was anything wrong with my bite but I've known since I was 12 there's something wrong. My friends have said I look 'the same but different' and a male colleague told me last week that all the men at work think I look really hot with my new smile so I can't really complain!
    If you want to see my photos from my underbite surgery you can see them at
    http://www.jawsurgeryblog.com/forums/topic/the-first-time-pics
    and
    http://www.jawsurgeryblog.com/forums/topic/before-during-and-after-double-jaw-surgery-for-underbite-lots-of-photos

    Posted 5 months ago #

  5. sarah1000
    Moderator

    I had SARPE surgery Nov 10 & wisdom teeth taken out during that surgery. My surgeon prefers this to be done a yr before the main surgery, but I have heard of a few on here that have had SARPE during their main surgery - guess every surgeon is different (I'm in uk and had the bar that I had to expand daily this was then removed 4 mths later).

    I totally freaked out, was in tears on the phone with my orthodontist & had to see my surgeon again a few days before my surgery to find out why I needed this surgery. He was great Sao I could rearrange of I wanted. I didn't change it as he calmed me down (as he patient and explains everything so well and made me comfortable) & now I love the shape of my arch. My main surgery for double surgery is in Jan next year - and although I am terrified I seem to have calmed down a bit because now I just want the final result.

    Good luck x

    Over bite: palate expander, braces & bi-surgery with genioplasty Jan 2012!
    Posted 5 months ago #

  6. hope14
    Member

    Hi f8,

    I just turned 20 last weekend and got my surgery last Wednesday. I went through very similar questioning for many years which made me prolong getting braces on, etc. They had to expand my pallette in addition to fixing my underbite. It was something that I have always noticed about myself and have been self conscious about. Noticeable to me, but some of me friends who have known me for years said they have never really noticed. If you have any more specific questions or want to see my pics let me know! I'm still really swollen but you can see some differences in my face. One of my biggest fears was I did not want to look like a completely different person, and although it is only 4 days after the surgery and I am very swollen, I still look like the same old me. (Hopefully this post makes sense, my drugs are making me a little weird LOL) Let me know if you have more questions though I'm bored here recovering!

    -Caroline

    Posted 5 months ago #

  7. sarah1000
    Moderator

    Hi Caroline congrats in your surgery. I was the same wanted to improve my bite and the benefits that come with it but still wanted to look like me. A friend I was explaining the surgery to a few mths back kinda summed up why I think people don't notice the bite/jaw problem like we do. She said that when you look at someone you you just accept them as they are and just see the person and not all little faults. When you then point something out they then see what you mean - but still say that they would not have notice unless I had. But also we are the ones that struggle to bite through things & people may not see this part.

    Posted 5 months ago #

  8. f8
    Member

    Thanks for the feedback, it really REALLY helps, honestly. I love hearing all of these success stories :) makes the jaw surgery-journey a tad less scary. Rachel your words are very encouraging, especially sense I'm obviously extra concerned about the facial differences the surgery creates. Here are some pics of my profile and bite:



    sorry for the shitty quality, its from my camera and i took them

    Posted 5 months ago #

  9. ron
    Member

    we have a similar bite , im also 20yo . im definatly concerned about my face changing too much , how much is your jaw being moved ? mine is sopposed to be moved 5mm only on the top

    Posted 4 months ago #

  10. madeinaday
    Member

    I was a lot like you. Prior to surgery I thought my face was perfect with one big flaw: the underbite. My surgeon agreed with me. I had consults with him 3 times (in intervals of like 2 years) and he said that though my jaw grew, I still had a very pretty face, and he did not want to risk ruining that with double jaw surgery. Of course, people that had double jaw surgeries on this site all became even more beautiful than before, but I just didn't want to not recognize my face in the mirror. I liked what I saw. So both me and my surgeon opted for lower jaw surgery only. However, my ortho thought I needed double jaw surgery since my upper palate needed to be expanded. Thankfully though, my surgeon is an experienced surgeon who has done surgeries in the past where he divided the lower jaw in half and widened/narrowed it (much like the upper palate expansion, the only difference is that it's with the lower jaw instead)to make the bite meet. So that's what we did.

    I'm exactly 3 weeks and a day post op and I'm really happy with how I look. Though I look pretty much the same as I did pre-op, now I have this beautiful bite/smile. However, I did face some complications after surgery (infection and the plates loosening), but aesthetically I couldn't be happier.

    Posted 4 months ago #

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