means to reduce swelling post-surgery

[funfun]

I had a BIG thing done recently. I flew to Seoul and did the cheek bone reduction procedure a month ago. I thought the swelling should be gone by now. But it's still there, quite obvious, making my cheek a round look. The doctor told me the chronic swelling could persist for 2-3 months:-(

Just wondering, does anyone know any means to speed up this process?

I greatly appreciate your help!!

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[ramanan]

what are all the measures you are implemented to him/his? then only we will reply as accurately. thank you..

[ktfb001]

I actually had a recent surgical procedure done in Korea. I had both zygoma (cheekbone) and mandibular (lower jaw) reduction done. It's been about 3.5 months for me, but the swelling hasn't completely gone down. In your case, I'd imagine it would probably take less time. I went from looking like a fat Avatar to looking like a chubby bunny (not cute though). But the change is noticeable. Here are some tips. You'd probably know most of them from what the doctor's told you:

1. Sleep with your upper body propped up. It's good just to keep your head propped up (so fluid doesn't collect in your face, but drains out), but keeping your head above your heart helps to force circulation throughout your upper body. I basically sleep in the sitting position, but that's probably overdoing it (and you don't really get much sleep)

2. For the first 2 weeks, use cold compresses. Afterwards, switch to warm compresses. I like to wash my face with icy cold water in the morning (to start up the circulation), take a warm shower, and then swtich to hot packs in the daytime. I finish up the day by washing my face with icy water (to close up facial pores). Hot temperature does some nasty damage to the skin, so it's important to take care not to ruin your skin while trying to reshapen your face.

3. Exercise. Nothing that requires serious exertion. After the first month and a half, I thought it would be okay to start jogging to kick up the blood circulation (and hopefully clean out the fluids in my face). Bad idea. Jogging just agitated the swelling. To top it off, the fatigue that followed exercise reduced my body's ability to effectively circulate blood throughout the day and basically ended up making me sleep in (which only made the swelling worse). Limit yourself to walking. It's better (in my opinion) to walk around outside with the cool air to jump start your circulation, but it's hard to do that when you really don't have any place to go. I use the treadmill and walk at a reasonably fast pace (enough to get my heart pumping and my sweat glands going after a while). Then I wash up and use cold water to cool off my face.

4. Avoid alcohol. My experience with booze had its good and bad effects. Alcohol does dehydrate the body, meaning the fluids in your face will be nearly drained in the morning. This might encourage you to drink again, but in truth your body hasn't gotten any closer to full recovery, meaning that your face will respond to the surgical wounds and swell up right back to square one in about two days. Alcohol reduces circulation over time, meaning it actually has the opposite effect you want.