Do oral surgeons have bad concept of what looks great

[Guest guest]

I hope my intro line will stir some thought and interest. As per

my posts of recent weeks, I'm a lower advance/genioplasty

veteran with a very significant amount of chin recessiveness

remaining. I'm tired of that, want to fix it. An implant of two

months ago is not healing right and will probably be removed

next week. A second genioplasty or different implant are my

options. But here's the punch line of my question..... in

discussing this with the office that did my first surgery, they

exclaimed " that we looked at your post ops from 1995 and all

thought you looked wonderful " , and " nobody could imagine that

you would need further work " . Although they are willing to

consult with me about a second genio. Now contrast that with

what another oral surgeon I consulted with said about my

pre-implant photos which of course was what I looked like from

the first surgery, he said " I'd never send anyone home looking

like that! " OK, my bite is great, teeth are straight, from straight

on I look pretty decent. The side profile is a whole different

issue. I realize that the first office isn't going to downgrade their

own work, but can't they at least be realistic and say something

like, " you had a nice improvement, but due to the severity of your

case you are justified in looking into further correction " . But

here's another thing, I look at a lot of orthognathic pre/post op

photos and find many of them to show little appearance

improvement, some cases honestly look worse than before. I

know that OS's aren't plastic surgeons, but something as simple

to recognize as a chin that slopes away from your lips at a 60

degree angle isn't exactly " wonderful " The fact that I'm having to

consider repeated procedures to obtain " normal " is

discouraging and a lot of people would be content to just be able

to bite into corn on the cob or pickles and not give two hoots

about their looks, but that's not me. I wear my " face " 24/7 and

obviously I'll be keeping it until my last breath of life.

[Guest guest]

I hope my intro line will stir some thought and interest. As per

my posts of recent weeks, I'm a lower advance/genioplasty

veteran with a very significant amount of chin recessiveness

remaining. I'm tired of that, want to fix it. An implant of two

months ago is not healing right and will probably be removed

next week. A second genioplasty or different implant are my

options. But here's the punch line of my question..... in

discussing this with the office that did my first surgery, they

exclaimed " that we looked at your post ops from 1995 and all

thought you looked wonderful " , and " nobody could imagine that

you would need further work " . Although they are willing to

consult with me about a second genio. Now contrast that with

what another oral surgeon I consulted with said about my

pre-implant photos which of course was what I looked like from

the first surgery, he said " I'd never send anyone home looking

like that! " OK, my bite is great, teeth are straight, from straight

on I look pretty decent. The side profile is a whole different

issue. I realize that the first office isn't going to downgrade their

own work, but can't they at least be realistic and say something

like, " you had a nice improvement, but due to the severity of your

case you are justified in looking into further correction " . But

here's another thing, I look at a lot of orthognathic pre/post op

photos and find many of them to show little appearance

improvement, some cases honestly look worse than before. I

know that OS's aren't plastic surgeons, but something as simple

to recognize as a chin that slopes away from your lips at a 60

degree angle isn't exactly " wonderful " The fact that I'm having to

consider repeated procedures to obtain " normal " is

discouraging and a lot of people would be content to just be able

to bite into corn on the cob or pickles and not give two hoots

about their looks, but that's not me. I wear my " face " 24/7 and

obviously I'll be keeping it until my last breath of life.

[Guest guest]

One other thought: There are plastic surgeons who do some of these

procedures. Have you considered talking with one of them? Or someone

trained in both oral surgery and plastic surgery?

I don't think oral surgeons have a " bad concept. " I do think that

some of them are about it to fix the function, rather than the look,

but even with the little bit of change I had, my surgeon did mention

to me beforehand that I could have some change in appearance. He said

it would be small, but I told him I wasn't really concerned with it,

and the discussion went no further. I suspect that if I'd said, " hey,

what can you do for my chin? " we'd have gone further into options and

possibilities.

I do know that there are also some people who are not happy with

their post-op appearances, as you've seen in the messages, while

their docs think what they've done is wonderful.

It may be that your first surgeons were pleased with the functional

results they helped you get, and really felt that they'd done what

you needed. It may be that they didn't want to hurt your feelings --

although I'd rather have my caregivers shoot straight with me. And I

think the second fellow was a bit, um, insensitive, at best, with his

remark. No wonder he left you questioning whether you're " a freak " !

There's certainly nothing wrong with wanting what you want. Or

looking for a doc who can give it to you. Just be careful to check

him or her out carefully.

Cammie

>

> I hope my intro line will stir some thought and interest. As per

> my posts of recent weeks, I'm a lower advance/genioplasty

> veteran with a very significant amount of chin recessiveness

> remaining. I'm tired of that, want to fix it. An implant of two

> months ago is not healing right and will probably be removed

> next week. A second genioplasty or different implant are my

> options. But here's the punch line of my question..... in

> discussing this with the office that did my first surgery, they

> exclaimed " that we looked at your post ops from 1995 and all

> thought you looked wonderful " , and " nobody could imagine that

> you would need further work " . Although they are willing to

> consult with me about a second genio. Now contrast that with

> what another oral surgeon I consulted with said about my

> pre-implant photos which of course was what I looked like from

> the first surgery, he said " I'd never send anyone home looking

> like that! " OK, my bite is great, teeth are straight, from

straight

> on I look pretty decent. The side profile is a whole different

> issue. I realize that the first office isn't going to downgrade

their

> own work, but can't they at least be realistic and say something

> like, " you had a nice improvement, but due to the severity of your

> case you are justified in looking into further correction " . But

> here's another thing, I look at a lot of orthognathic pre/post op

> photos and find many of them to show little appearance

> improvement, some cases honestly look worse than before. I

> know that OS's aren't plastic surgeons, but something as simple

> to recognize as a chin that slopes away from your lips at a 60

> degree angle isn't exactly " wonderful " The fact that I'm having to

> consider repeated procedures to obtain " normal " is

> discouraging and a lot of people would be content to just be able

> to bite into corn on the cob or pickles and not give two hoots

> about their looks, but that's not me. I wear my " face " 24/7 and

> obviously I'll be keeping it until my last breath of life.

[Guest guest]

One other thought: There are plastic surgeons who do some of these

procedures. Have you considered talking with one of them? Or someone

trained in both oral surgery and plastic surgery?

I don't think oral surgeons have a " bad concept. " I do think that

some of them are about it to fix the function, rather than the look,

but even with the little bit of change I had, my surgeon did mention

to me beforehand that I could have some change in appearance. He said

it would be small, but I told him I wasn't really concerned with it,

and the discussion went no further. I suspect that if I'd said, " hey,

what can you do for my chin? " we'd have gone further into options and

possibilities.

I do know that there are also some people who are not happy with

their post-op appearances, as you've seen in the messages, while

their docs think what they've done is wonderful.

It may be that your first surgeons were pleased with the functional

results they helped you get, and really felt that they'd done what

you needed. It may be that they didn't want to hurt your feelings --

although I'd rather have my caregivers shoot straight with me. And I

think the second fellow was a bit, um, insensitive, at best, with his

remark. No wonder he left you questioning whether you're " a freak " !

There's certainly nothing wrong with wanting what you want. Or

looking for a doc who can give it to you. Just be careful to check

him or her out carefully.

Cammie

>

> I hope my intro line will stir some thought and interest. As per

> my posts of recent weeks, I'm a lower advance/genioplasty

> veteran with a very significant amount of chin recessiveness

> remaining. I'm tired of that, want to fix it. An implant of two

> months ago is not healing right and will probably be removed

> next week. A second genioplasty or different implant are my

> options. But here's the punch line of my question..... in

> discussing this with the office that did my first surgery, they

> exclaimed " that we looked at your post ops from 1995 and all

> thought you looked wonderful " , and " nobody could imagine that

> you would need further work " . Although they are willing to

> consult with me about a second genio. Now contrast that with

> what another oral surgeon I consulted with said about my

> pre-implant photos which of course was what I looked like from

> the first surgery, he said " I'd never send anyone home looking

> like that! " OK, my bite is great, teeth are straight, from

straight

> on I look pretty decent. The side profile is a whole different

> issue. I realize that the first office isn't going to downgrade

their

> own work, but can't they at least be realistic and say something

> like, " you had a nice improvement, but due to the severity of your

> case you are justified in looking into further correction " . But

> here's another thing, I look at a lot of orthognathic pre/post op

> photos and find many of them to show little appearance

> improvement, some cases honestly look worse than before. I

> know that OS's aren't plastic surgeons, but something as simple

> to recognize as a chin that slopes away from your lips at a 60

> degree angle isn't exactly " wonderful " The fact that I'm having to

> consider repeated procedures to obtain " normal " is

> discouraging and a lot of people would be content to just be able

> to bite into corn on the cob or pickles and not give two hoots

> about their looks, but that's not me. I wear my " face " 24/7 and

> obviously I'll be keeping it until my last breath of life.