The following information is provided to ensure that many of the details of postoperative care are covered prior to your surgical procedure. This ensures a smooth and uneventful recovery. It has been our experience that the more information and preparation patients have prior to their surgery, the more easily they are able to manage their postoperative care.
There are several aspects of your postoperative care which will require special attention. These areas of concern are listed below in the sequence with which you will have to manage them after your surgery.
Swelling
It is difficult to predict what you will remember immediately following surgery. You may remember waking up in the recovery room or you may not recall this event and only remember waking up in your room. Regardless, be assured that there will be experienced and caring nurses and staff to attend to your needs. When you awake, you may have some concerns. You will likely have a small oxygen mask lightly over your face; this is routine. If you have some fluids in your mouth or stuffiness in your nose, this will be removed with a small suction tube. Remember – your jaws will be held together with some elastics-not wires. Many of these things can cause you to feel uncomfortable or even panicky. Remember to relax and listen to the staff – you are in no danger. Your jaws are not wired together and usually you will be able to open the jaws against the force of the elastics. We would prefer that you don’t. This resting of the jaw will help minimize swelling.
You will be positioned with your head up. This will help minimize swelling. This “head up” position should be used for the first 7-10 days to help reduce swelling. Expect the peak of your swelling to occur 48 hours after surgery and most should be gone by 7-10 days. In the hospital, the bed will be flexed in the middle to prevent you from sliding to the foot of the bed. At home, propping up your mattress at the head of the bed and under the foot of the bed will help also. Spending a lot of time in a “Lazy Boy” type chair is an excellent alternative. Remember, keeping your head above the level of your heart is what helps reduce and minimize swelling. How much swelling you will actually have varies significantly from patient to patient.
In the hospital, several additional aids will be used to help minimize your swelling. Medications will be administered to help decrease swelling. Ice packs will also be used. Constant use for the first 12 -24 hours is most effective. The nurses will assist you with ice packs which should be applied for 20 minutes and removed for 10 minutes.
Nasal swelling and stuffiness can also be a problem after upper jaw surgery. This will tend to be worse 48 hours after surgery and will then begin to decrease.
Warm packs to the face after the first 48 hours will help increase blood supply and reduce swelling, speeding the resolution of discoloration associated with bruising. If bruising occurs it will be evident 4-5 days after surgery.
Just a final word regarding your jaw surgery and safety. First, the elastics can be easily removed by you. In the unlikely even vomiting occurs, it is most important to position yourself properly rather than to try to take the elastics off. If you are sick, position yourself over a basin or toilet bowl and let the fluids pass between the spaces in your teeth and out your nose. You will not choke. There is no need for you to take wire cutters home with you.
Drinking
Following jaw surgery there is frequently some numbness in the upper or lower lip, or both. When this is combined with facial swelling and soreness due to incisions inside the mouth, a task as basic as drinking may present difficulties. There are several tips which may help you: