I was googling palate in pain after sarpe surgery and this was the 2nd hit! haha, thanks google that's very helpful, redirect me back to my own problems lol. I'm kind of a longwinded talker, I apologize.
It's been an interesting year. The pain is just the same, worse at times. I used to wear my retainer to help prevent relapse of my teeth, but it wasn't working. The palate/teeth still relapsed a bit over the last couple years anyways. And eventually whether I'd wear them or not it would sting and ache, and after a while it seems to make it worse, so I stopped wearing them except once in a blue moon now.. I had the idea of trying devices like Alf, or something similar to help stabilize, and possibly help fix the asymmetry in the palate the surgeon created. But after talking with a local dentist who utilizes those kind of practices it seems clear it wouldn't work the way I'd hope it would. He says they can work on the bone via pushing on the teeth (it does not work on the palate directly), but in the process it will create gaps in your teeth, create even more expansion etc. And anyways, my top four incisors have been loose ever since the sarpe surgery, so for me that's definitely a no go, I don't want to risk losing those teeth. . I had contacted a local surgeon, explaining my situation, but they were suggesting another surgery, probably only thinking about the positioning of teeth and stuff, totally disregarded my health concerns.
Out of desperation for answers, I read some studies and looked through a few different forums hoping to find something helpful (there are a couple other similar forums to this one. This one has the most members, but overall, people here seem to be less informed), I saw that my case isn't the only one like this. I learned that all maxillofacial surgeries are inherently risky. I mean, that's kind of a no brainer. Go watch youtube videos of them sawing through the bones in someones face and you tell me that's a perfectly harmless operation. There wasn't really any consensus among the studies about what the % chance of a risk was, a couple had low numbers like 5-15% (they call that low
), and others had quite gruesome reports like 40%. The variety in results kind of makes sense because when they do a study they often sample from one area, or one hospital. So the results in that study will depend on the skills of those surgeons. The funny part, was that every study pretty much had the exact same conclusion- that maxillofacial surgery is essentially harmless and is very useful. They believe that all of the different kinds of complications are acceptable outcomes, and that things should continue on, business as usual. For me, that's quite an insult to injury.
In one interesting study in south korea, where alot of patients got the surgery for cosmetic reasons only, the author in the study asked patients if they regret their surgery. They reported a huge % of patients receiving a complication of some kind, and then they said the majority of patients with complications regret the surgery. Then the author still had the audacity to conclude that their results are acceptable, and the only worry for the surgeon is to inform the patient of the risks. After he's done that, everything is fine, good to go. I couldn't help but send him an email telling him how stupid he sounds, in as charming a way as I could. His own research was telling him that it's an extremely bad idea, that after the fact, people don't want to do this for cosmetic only. He wrote the most in-depth study I saw so far, and still he just copied the conclusions of every other surgeon around the world. Group-think much? Needless to say he never responded lol. And anyways, cosmetics could, and would be worse afterwards, so what's the point when that happens. A few people in that country killed themselves after surgery, or at least tried.
I also learned that this is a (low) multi billion dollar industry, if you take into account all the things like equipment, surgeon fees, etc.
Of course this is just my opinion, but the industry is only interested in continuing to keep giving people more surgeries, despite it's shortfalls. I mean that it's goal isn't to only perform surgery when it's a necessary evil, the industry is working to establish itself so that even borderline cases are now covered by insurance and health care (this didn't seem to be the case all that long ago, depending where you live of course). All the borderline patient has to do is say yes, and then away they go. A strong word of caution and a full detail of every known complication should be provided by the surgeon, but this isn't the case. Unfortunately, I was not informed at all by my surgeon, he told me nothing other than what kind of surgery I would have.
Given my bad results, I'm a huge devil's advocate now, and my flat out answer to anyone considering any maxillofacial surgery would be, No. Don't do it. Not unless you're trying to escape an unbearable situation (an example is someone who can use it to treat their sleep apnea). Everyone's case is different of course, and you must decide for yourself, but you must make an informed decision.
I make a promise to anyone that feels they need to do this to try and feel normal about their looks: You can live happily the way you are, without surgery. And I promise, in time, you won't feel that way about your looks, if you don't want to. As you get older you'll look around and see how we could all use an improvement in one way or another, and you'll see how we're all getting worse over time anyways. When you gain that perspective you'll see how foolish it is to risk throwing away your health for looks. Only a Chance at better looks... it's an incredibly stupid thing to do.
Regarding my cosmetics, I look worse after surgery. I know it, everyone who knows me knows it. It took me a few years before I could admit it though. I've worked to the point where I'm happy with the way I am.
But, getting back to the main point. My mouth is in pain. It got so bad I went to my local hospital a few times to see if they can help. I get shoots of pain dozens of times a day. I've learned how to manage it, I found a really helpful ..supplement? called Serrapeptase. It's job is to reduce pain and inflammation.... it specifically says on the bottle that it's helpful after dental surgery. It says take 1 a day, but I'll pop 3 at a time and get an hour or two of relief. Normal painkillers help too of course, but this one is more natural and doesn't come with bad side effects. The only side effect for me is I get drowsy, which is great because I have trouble sleeping sometimes. I never knew how ibuprofen could cause such massive heartburn until after chugging those for a few days in a row. Lol, it's funny, but also sad. When I was a younger, something like a trip to the mountains, or a whole day playing games with friends would make me happy. But now, finding a healthy way to treat chronic pain makes me happy. lol. "Life's a b*tch and then you die" - Nas.
I wont come back here for a while, if ever. there's no answers for me here. And all I would do is warn people not to get surgery and they probably won't listen anyways,- so, cya.
And to anyone where this surgery ended up becoming a blessing. I'm so happy for you. Jealous. You are so lucky. I wish I could have had that experience. I wish everyone could have had that experience.
It's so terrible to have met someone who has dedicated their life to a skill which was actually very harmful to me. I wish they could understand how terrible of a person they were, to me.
The most important thing in life, is health.
In life, it is impossible to buy a life with another life.
You cannot rationalize to yourself, "If I help this many, but only harm this many, then it it worth it", because that's not rational.
Instead, it's like this: You help this many. And also harm this many. You do both. There is both. Even though some people love you, you're still a monster.
-signed Metalmouth33