I had hairline advancement, type 3 brow and orbital contouring, rhinoplasty, cheek implants, lip lift and augmentation, sliding genioplasty and mandibular contouring.

The lower lip lift was achieved by strategically placing the genioplasty incisions higher in the mouth. This, in combination with the upper lip lift, seems to give me less "cheek space" and thus it's a little hard to chew without my lips opening up.

I really like my lip lift, I think it's super femme and cute. You'll find that eating/drinking will feel different.

Good questions! 1. My initial video consult was in October 2022 and my pre-op consult was in March 2024, so he spent time reviewing again what his plans were for surgery and making sure we agreed on any decisions being made (for example, he decided to include my existing hairline instead of assuming the grafts I had would all fall out). He also did some touching/poking to get a feel for how much cartilage and fat were in certain parts of my face. Then he did the CT scan and showed me what he is looking for in that scan. 2. I was excited and a bit nervous. My mom and partner went with me to the hospital and I was pretty calm up until they stuck the IV in me, at which point I began crying and freaking out a little. It's a pretty huge deal, and I knew I wanted it I think the "things are gonna be different from now on" just hit me like a brick. 3. When I woke up I had to pee so freaking bad! I was also sleepy. The blood pressure cuff that was on my arm was so tight I couldn't feel my arm, which initially freaked me the fuck out. As far as claustrophobia... Not really, at least not in my case. Just know you're gonna be drooling all over yourself for a while. I could actually breathe through my nose the whole time, fwiw. 4. I did not experience any nausea. I have been told that is kinda unusual. 5. My mom stayed with me for the first week and kept track of medications and stuff to make sure I wasn't too doped up. As far as icing, they gave me some small round ice packs at the hospital and I rotated those out of the freezer every ~45 minutes or so, and just tucked them into my bandages. You can also buy them on Amazon, super handy. I tried to also do the frozen peas or whatever but that wasn't really as effective. I also got a "cold eye mask" and that helped with eyelid swelling. At night, if I woke up I would walk over to the freezer and replace the ice packs. I didn't sleep too well the first few nights, because sleeping on an incline was weird for me. Ointment is no big deal. 6. As far as things I wish I knew for recovery... My partner drove me home the day after surgery and I recovered in my apartment, so I had all my stuff. Eating is MESSY. Make sure you have a ton of towels/rags to cover your clothes. You can try to use syringes for food, and for drinks I was recommended "nosey cups" that are awesome. Be gentle with yourself, go for walks when you feel comfortable, and relax. After the first week, I felt like I was basically ready to go back to normal life.

His staff seemed really nice, I only met him and Galina in person but everyone I talked to on the phone seemed friendly and helpful.

The pain was not bad at all, I had an orchiectomy in February and that was more painful in my opinion. The discomfort of not being able to close my mouth for a week... Now that sucked.

Thanks, I agree! I love the forehead shape.

There is often "shock loss" of hair when doing a hairline incision, and hair will be lost regardless of whether it is natural or grafted. This doesn't always happen, but it's typical for this kind of surgery. The difference is, natural hair usually comes right back and grafted hair often doesn't. That said, surgeons sometimes "ignore" the areas where hair has been grafted and use your "real" hairline to ensure that you don't end up with an incision that isn't covered by your hair. In this case, we discussed it and he decided to take the risk, since my natural hairline is way the hell back there and my graft areas were pretty dense.

I used to be able to place six fingers between my eyebrows and hairline, and now im just a little over four fingers (Americans will use anything other than the metric system I know lol)

Yes, seems like a lot of people have no trouble. United Healthcare was just very clear with me they make no exceptions for FFS.

Yeah that's what's considered a half day, so he could fit you into a day with someone else. Id ask.

Well in order to get to your brow and orbitals they have to do the forehead incision, so that's really the best opportunity to fly the hairline advancement.

With my surgeon, the costs for upper face and lower face were about even.