Facial implants of any type of dimensions will always cause some temporary swelling and bruising. Both types of performed jaw implants, chin and jaw angles, cause a predictable amount of facial swelling that will most certainly be viewed as significant by the patient. Typical facial swelling takes two days to reach its peak and the swelling resolves on a predictable downward projectory. I tell my patients that 50% of the swelling will be gone by 10 days, 75% by 21 days and 95% by six weeks after surgery. Final critique of the facial result should await a full three months.
A custom jawline implant, will cause the greatest amount of facial swelling than any other type of known facial implant. It combines the postoperative swelling seen in isolated chin and jaw angle implants into one single jawline enlargement. It probably causes more swelling than these two facial implants combined because the entire jawline is dissected free from angle to angle in a subperiosteal plane.
A custom jawline implant can create some dramatic changes to the lower face. But the patient needs to be aware of the magnitude of the swelling and bruising that will occur as it can be very unsettling. As is typical for any facial implant, the swelling from a custom jawline implant will not be ‘bad at all’ the first night after surgery. But by the next day some significant swelling will have developed. It is the second day after surgery when the true magnitude of the swelling will be appreciated. While normal, it is always more than most patients anticipate. This patient example shows the progression of swelling in a three picture sequence of before surgery, day 1 and then day 2 after surgery.
With the face naturally ballooned up several days after surgery, patients naturally wonder if something is wrong. Some patients may even question to themselves if having this surgery was the right decision. With the face so distorted, the patient is halfway across the ocean…having left home with a face that was very familiar but far from arriving at their new look. (final destination.) Sitting between these two sides can understandably make patients feel very uncomfortable. But patience and time will resolve the facial swelling. It usually takes about three weeks before one feels like they are becoming more normal and they start to see the benefits of the planned jawline change.
What causes much of the swelling after placement of a custom jawline implant is the disruption of the masseter muscles off the bone. The masseter muscles are the largest muscles on the face and their disruption is the source of much of the facial swelling and the temporary stiffness of jaw opening.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana