Jawline Implant Recovery

Q: Dr. Eppley, I just have a couple of questions about my jawline implant recovery. My swelling had been decreasing but has now been going back up and is at a peak high now and the pain is also increasing again at a high now (1 week post). I was just wondering if this is normal as I thought both swelling and pain would generally decrease over time?

A: Thank you for your very early jawline implant recovery questions. While it is true that recovery has a linear progression  (e.g., point B is better than point A, point C is better than point B etc), your understanding of the temporal sequence of this progression is inaccurate. The time points between levels of improvement occur by week of separation not days particularly in the early point of the process. It is very common for someone to have more pain at one week after surgery that the first postoperative day. You have incurred a major muscle injury to the face (the largest of the facial muscles) and it will take time to begin to have a real recovery. That has not really happened yet. Your symptoms would be more concerning if you developed a lot more pain and swelling three weeks or so after surgery when you had already had a lot of the facial swelling resolution. But at one week with less than 25% of any facial swelling resolved, your symptoms are common and not concerning based on your description alone.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana