that gross medical taste in your mouth while your incisions are healing
people who get facial contouring mostly talk about the swelling, ice packs, and pain. nobody really mentions that for the first four or five days after surgery, you constantly have this terrible metallic taste in your mouth from a mix of old blood and strong antiseptic gargle.
no matter how much you rinse, that chemical iron aftertaste just sticks to your tongue and throat. it completely kills your appetite so you can't even stomach pumpkin juice or protein shakes without feeling nauseous. sitting at a table with a glass of ice water, taking small sips just to get rid of that taste for a few seconds, becomes the only thing you do all day.
the best part about my post op checkups at saekim plastic surgery was literally getting my mouth flushed out by someone else. it was just a quick 15 minute visit where the nurse would use a syringe with water to blast out all the food debris and dried saliva from the back of my mouth. then Dr. kim would gently check my jawline, make sure the stitches were still tight, and send me on my way. it was the only time my mouth actually felt clean for an hour.
by the sixth or seventh day, as the intraoral incisons close up and you start drinking more water, that nasty metallic taste finally goes away. it's super gross and rarely talked about, but it's a huge part of the early recovery process that no promo post ever warns you about.