Osteotomy surgery involves grinding down the bony overgrowth that protrudes from the face and affects the image, with the aim of making the face shape more even. Nowadays, many people undergo osteotomy surgery to transform their faces into a round face, which looks more attractive. So, how is the whole process of osteotomy surgery? Below, we will give a detailed and comprehensive introduction.

Osteotomy surgery process:

1. Consultation. The patient expresses his or her expectations for the areas to be reduced and the desired level to the doctor. The doctor usually takes X-rays or even MRI of the patient before the surgery to clearly understand the skeletal structure, and then proposes suggestions based on individual advantages, and specifies the method of osteotomy surgery.

2. Anesthesia. Local anesthesia and general anesthesia. From the perspective of the osteotomy surgery itself, both types of anesthesia can be used for surgery, but in the case of incision and surgery, the patient under local anesthesia can feel the vibration of the equipment, and therefore cause fear. Therefore, if the patient wants to experience the surgery process completely without feeling anything, the doctor recommends the use of general anesthesia.

3. Incision of osteotomy surgery. The incision is made on the inside of the mouth near the mandibular angle or hyoid bone, and the entire facial skin and muscle are opened from the inside of the mouth, separating the muscle from the periosteum, exposing the surgical site that requires treatment, and then performing surgery. There was also a method of incision from the outside of the mouth, but it was later abandoned. Since most blood vessels and nerves are connected to the muscle and skin, the incision from the inside of the mouth, during surgery, the instruments and nerves are separated by a layer of muscle, which can improve the safety factor.

4. Blood circulation. The effectiveness of blood circulation not only affects the safety of the patient during the osteotomy surgery but is also a key factor in the occurrence of postoperative abscesses. In addition to the need for blood circulation when separating the muscle from the periosteum, if osteotomy is selected, bone wax should be applied to the affected area of the bone after the bone is removed, which has the effect of promoting blood circulation and can also assist in the self-repair of the bone.

5. Surgical treatment. Select an appropriate osteotomy method according to the needs. Special attention should be paid to the fact that the bone morphogenetic protein that falls off during the surgery must be cleaned with saline, as this powdery substance adheres to the wound, and when the muscle responds to the original point, it will adhere to the bone again and continue to grow and develop.

6. Masseter muscle treatment. After the osteotomy surgery, due to the change in the skeletal structure of the masseter muscle, the doctor will conduct treatment based on the patient’s condition of masseter muscle hypertrophy. If it is excessively hypertrophic, a part of the muscle can be removed from the back to adapt to the new skeletal structure; if not too hypertrophic, as the muscle itself will shrink after the surgery, additional adjustment is not required.

7. Surgical suture and drainage method. An additional drainage tube is placed in the sutured incision to eliminate blood clots, and the drainage tube can generally be removed the day after the osteotomy surgery.

8. Moderate compression bandaging. The binding of the face can not only have a certain blood circulation effect but also assist in facial shaping.

9. Postoperative recovery. For simple osteotomy, hospitalization is generally required for one day, and the patient can be discharged after the drainage tube is removed; while for excisional surgical treatment, hospitalization for three days to a week is required. Throughout this process, the doctor will administer appropriate antibiotics to the patient to prevent wound infection; sometimes, a small amount of growth hormone may also be injected to reduce the swelling of the face.