Hey mate if your face is scaring people it's gotta be your facial expression, I believe I saw a post about this some time ago and I reckon you probably received some good advice there about practicing different facial expressions etc. Did you do this? Your "tired face" should not be scary. It should be, well, tired... sleepy and peaceful etc. What's probably happening though, is you're having some mild feelings of paranoia or other unpleasant things, which are leaking through onto your face and communicating themselves to other people. I know I get a little paranoid when I'm tired anyway. Good feelings and mood tends to mask it but the fundamental issue is how you feel about yourself deep down, you can't directly change this because it's unconscious but you can certainly work on it by affirmations, meditations and various other kinds of work.
Now about your sleep apnea, you need to get treatment right away. From my own experience I'm fairly sure I know what's happening here, you haven't fully accepted that you've gotta wear a CPAP every night for the rest of your life, and so you're hoping for a surgical solution, the CPAP is also expensive (I recommend
this one which is what I use) and you're thinking you can save money by not buying it if the surgery is successful right? And this situation has gone on for A WHOLE YEAR? Hmm dude every night you sleep without treatment means a day of your life wasted due to tiredness and you'll never get that back! If you insist on a surgical solution then at least rent a CPAP in the meantime. What's the surgery, you're getting your tonsils out or what?
Anyway, I can tell you now that sleep apnea is VERY UNLIKELY to be resolved through surgery. Don't listen to what the doctors or surgeons tell you, they're just in it for the money, and they justify it because they believe that even a small chance of your not having to wear a CPAP for the rest of your life is worth it to you (since you haven't fully accepted your illness). Go research it in forums and talk to people who've had it done, it was useless for me at any rate, but was extremely painful with a long recovery time. You might do better with things like mouth guards that hold your mouth open while you sleep, but the GOLD STANDARD is the CPAP machine, and I believe it is useless to attempt any other device or treatment (including surgery) without having a CPAP machine to compare it to. Seriously, go get one right now, like TODAY.
Ray
