Leforte's - a little pep talk from me

[Guest guest]

Ok, I've been gone for 3 days and I get back and people are FREAKING

out about le forte's? People, please. Take a deep breathe, breathe

in, breathe out and relax. Your doctors are not out to kill you but

to give you the best possible bite possible. For some of us a le

forte is necessary. A le forte is no more complicated or more painful

than a BSSO is or any of the other treatments one can get done during

orthognathic surgery. All involve major surgery but with excellent

results. I had an upper le forte (3 piece segmentation) along with

several other procedures at once. I survived. It wasn't half as bad

as I thought and honestly, had it been a le forte or something else I

wouldn't have noticed the difference. You're totall out like a light

during surgery. You're actually not there watching when they perform

the le forte on you. I guess what freaks people out about le forte is

that the description of the procedure does sound very gory but then

if you were expecting this to be a non-gory surgery then I wish I

lived on your LA LA Planet. And like I said, why worry about gory

details that you won't actually see.

If having a le forte is going to give you the perfect result and not

having it will give you a less than perfect result...well I would opt

for the le forte. You might as well do it right the first time around

while you're at it. I'm VERY PLEASED with my results. Check out my

pre and post-op pics under SARA to see for yourself.

Cheer up people. I promise, the le forte sounds a lot scarier than it

is.

Sara

[Guest guest]

Hello, Sara - Welcome back! And, yes, I'll admit it: I'm one of the

people freaking out about a LeFort! As I emailed you last week, my

OMS told me that he would like me to allow him to perform a LeFort

on me as well as the BSSO. I was only expecting to have the BSSO -

the LeFort came out of left field. I'm feeling a little bit better

about it now (still pretty scared though) but I'm still NOT ready to

give him the green light. My OMS told me that I have Maxillary

Hypoplasia, as well as Mandibular Hyperplasia (underbite). He is the

first doctor to tell me this; I do BELIEVE him and TRUST him, but

I'd like to see my cephalometric xray just for my own piece-of-mind

(I work in the medical profession and know how to read xrays.). I'm

sure my OMS will have absolutely NO problem with my request; he

wants me to be happy with my decision to have Orthognathic Surgery

and has made himself available at any time for any questions or

concerns that I may have. He told me that he knows what a huge

decision this is to make. I have a question: Sara, you had a 3-

piece, right? So, your upper was segmented into three pieces - side

to side or front to back?. The reason I ask is because my OD told me

a few weeks ago that if I ever need a LeFort then I will need two

upper bicuspids removed; are teeth removed only if the LeFort

involves segmentation? I don't want to lose anymore teeth,

especially healthy ones. My OMS didn't understand either; maybe my

OD thinks that all LeForts involve segmentation. I'm going to call

my OMS tomorrow. Thanks for your support. ~~~ Diane

> Ok, I've been gone for 3 days and I get back and people are

FREAKING

> out about le forte's? People, please. Take a deep breathe, breathe

> in, breathe out and relax. Your doctors are not out to kill you

but

> to give you the best possible bite possible. For some of us a le

> forte is necessary. A le forte is no more complicated or more

painful

> than a BSSO is or any of the other treatments one can get done

during

> orthognathic surgery. All involve major surgery but with excellent

> results. I had an upper le forte (3 piece segmentation) along with

> several other procedures at once. I survived. It wasn't half as

bad

> as I thought and honestly, had it been a le forte or something

else I

> wouldn't have noticed the difference. You're totall out like a

light

> during surgery. You're actually not there watching when they

perform

> the le forte on you. I guess what freaks people out about le forte

is

> that the description of the procedure does sound very gory but

then

> if you were expecting this to be a non-gory surgery then I wish I

> lived on your LA LA Planet. And like I said, why worry about gory

> details that you won't actually see.

>

> If having a le forte is going to give you the perfect result and

not

> having it will give you a less than perfect result...well I would

opt

> for the le forte. You might as well do it right the first time

around

> while you're at it. I'm VERY PLEASED with my results. Check out my

> pre and post-op pics under SARA to see for yourself.

>

> Cheer up people. I promise, the le forte sounds a lot scarier than

it

> is.

>

> Sara

[Guest guest]

Hi Diane from Idaho,

You know, I had a friend take a couple of pictures of me after my braces

were on and I HATED them. UGH. Yes, I will try to toughen it up and take a

few pictures.

My teeth are just about there. I don't go back to the OD for 8 weeks. At

that appointment, they'll take molds to see how far I am from surgery. My OD

thought I would be reading late-fall 2005 and my insurance approval expires

9/27/05.

By the way, I didn't think your photos were bad at all! But, like you, I

hate taking pictures of myself. Hopefully this process will help us learn to

be more comfortable and embrace who we are!

Diane, Oregon

>

>Reply-To: orthognathicsurgerysupport

>To: orthognathicsurgerysupport

>Subject: [Orthognathic Surgery Support ] Re: Leforte's - a little pep

>talk from me

>Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 04:38:28 -0000

>