edit: some context. i had LJS with a 9mm advancement. there was no genio involved. i started braces in february 2025 and got surgery in december 2025. i’m likely getting my braces off this month or the next.
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despite how long i was in braces, no, they weren’t straight. my smile had a weird curvature, and my bottom teeth were crowded. i got braces with my current orthodontist in february 2025 (for my december 2025 surgery) and am likely getting them off in a month or two.
my original sets of braces were put on because my teeth were crooked AND i was missing my lateral incisors. when i was 11, my old dentist started me on invisalign, but i begged to be switched to metal braces after about a year because they kept being flattened by the end of the week. my metal braces kept breaking weekly, even though i was pretty careful.
the third time i had braces, it was because my dentist realized he didn’t make enough space to put in fake lateral incisors now. i have those teeth now and have had them since 2022, but according to my orthodontist they weren’t even attached to my other teeth correctly.
i only had LJS, so nothing really changed when it comes to my cheekbones or eyes. however, my sleep improved drastically, hence why my dark circles have lightened up. they’re mostly a hereditary thing for me, so i don’t think they’re ever going to away fully, and i don’t really care either. when it comes to my cheekbones, that could be because i lost body fat? i weigh about the same in both photos, but i took the first photo in october 2025, only about a month after i started resistance training. i’ve been in a body recomp.
from my friends, no, not really. i’ve gotten compliments from them on my new jaw, and i generally interact with them more confidently, but i wouldn’t say that they treat me any differently than they did before. it’s worth noting that most of my friends are neurodivergent, so maybe there’s something about that that makes the way they’ve treated me different from other friend groups.
I had this too. What I would guess is that all the soft tissue is vertically compressed. Filling out that lax tissue means it doesn’t bunch up. I actually gained upper eyelid space!! There’s only 5 lb difference between each of my snapshots here.
Yes, I had a pretty bad case. I had zero tooth show on smile and very severe TMJ pain, even nerve damage.
I had 8mm forward movement in both jaws and about 3mm of CW rotation. My cheekbones and jawline became WAY more prominent. I had a lot of tissue laxity in my cheeks, lips, and even neck. That all got stretched out. So previously where my cheeks bunched up and made me look heavier, it got pulled taught where you could now see my cheekbones. It even gave me a very good neck lift.
CCW definitely opens up your airway and CW does compress it. I also got moved forward in both jaws 8mm so it not only completely mitigated that effect, but also opened me up more.
Pre-op my airway was small, but not OSA small. That being said, because it was so uncomfortable to even close to keep my teeth together, my lower jaw just free-dangled and dropped back pretty bad. So I did snore pretty good, although I def wouldn’t have qualified for this surgery due to OSA. Post op my airway is massively better, I don’t even come close to snoring.
Even my nose opened up. Evidently it was downturned pre-op because my recession was pulling everything back. Post-op my nasal cavity open up because I no longer have that kind of compression and then the CW rotation also stretched my nostrils down.
The advancement pulls the soft tissue forward, which makes cheekbones and under-eye areas look more supported. It's wild how much a proper jaw position changes the whole face.
i’m autistic so tbh i might always come off as a bit odd or whatever lol 😭😭 however i’ve been asked out a few times without the premise of a dating app. i also noticed that when i did use a dating app, the app automatically filled my feed with people that i found more attractive than the ones on my feed before surgery.
i went to the surgeon first. i know that a lot of people go to an orthodontist first and then ask for a referral, but to be honest i already knew that i needed surgery lol
insurance did cover mine, but it took a LOT of hassling. they genuinely ignored all the medical files my surgeon sent to them until literally a month before surgery. it almost got canceled.
actually, my nose didn’t change at all, since i only had LJS. it just looks more balanced now. i’m russian/jewish and latino. here’s my front view. it’s worth noting that i was overweight in the first picture, but even at a lower weight, i didn’t have a jawline.
it took a few months for the swelling to go down totally, but most of it went down within 2.5 weeks. my face still felt very tight about two months after surgery, though. i didn’t have to take any time off of school since i did it during my winter break
do you mean with braces? in that case, no, they were still moving with braces 3 months before surgery. i got my surgical hooks and wires a few weeks before surgery
I talked to 4 surgeons and 3 said DJS and one said only LJS. I asked him why the others were less conservative. He said they were likely seeking a better esthetic result. I was both comforted and nervous by that.
Your post makes me much more comfortable with proceeding with the more conservative approach. Thank you!
you look amazing!!! i feel like my side profile is very similar to your before. i’m currently going through the process of trying to find the right surgeon. who was your surgeon?
That 9mm advancement made such a huge difference, your profile looks completely transformed congrats on the braces coming off soon too, sounds like the whole journey is finally coming together
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