4 weeks post op - ortho profile photo ... Before and After

I had an appointment with my ortho (Dr. L) on Monday, he just wanted to check out my midline and see how my bite was settling in. He said that he's not going to worry about the midline yet because there is still some swelling, things might look a bit different when the swelling goes down. The band configuration looked good, so no changes there. I thought I would post the before/after profile view to date since my ortho took a profile pic. The first picture is pre-braces, the second is a few weeks before surgery, and the third photo is just under 4 weeks post op:

The things that stand out to me are how my upper lip was lenghtened (it seems to come down further now), and the angle it sits at (it comes more straight across, versus how it sas very angled upwards before), which really does the trick in reducing my lip incompetence. And, of course, the stronger chin, which isn't nearly as strong as in the projections (they decided not to do the genio), but I do think I prefer the softer look.

My next appointment will be October 20th, 6 weeks post-op, and it will be about an hour. It sounds like he will be repositioning some brackets, so we will be re-initiating the orhtodontics. Let's go!

In other news ... I have been "eating" soft foods such as fried eggs, pudding, applesauce, yogurt, today I even cooked up some whole-grain pasta mixed with gravy, but had to break it up with my fingers to get it down. I am not chewing so I don't think my surgeon should take issue with it, just anything I can get in my mouth and break up with my tongue on the roof of my mouth that has texture is very inviting to me right now! I know I am not supposed to move to soft chew until 6-8 weeks, but I don't really consider it chewing if I am just slurping it in and swallowing, without chewing, so I don't think I'm cheating :) I have an appointment with Dr. P tomorrow so we'll see what he says. Tonight I picked up some cottage cheese and pineapple tidbits, also some whole grain pancake mix, so I might try that tomorrow.