Nose Surgery: Stories

I had external Septorhinoplasty on the 7th of May 2009 as a result of a direct blow to my nose causing a fracture (deviated Septum).Consequently I had difficulty breathing but of more concern to me was the bump forming on the dorsum which appeared to make my nose asymmetrical.

Upon consultation my surgeon was confident in assuring me he could improve the functional problems and then continued to ask what, if anything, I did not like about the aesthetics of my nose. I'm very vein and have been my whole life, so as you could imagine when given the chance I told him everything I did not like and would love enhanced to the current state of my nose. Which included, refining the tip, making it as small as possible, straightening it and removing any aspect of the 'beaky' look I thought I had especially in the tip. After explaining all this to my surgeon, he didn't seem to reject any of the requests I had so I was happy enough going into sugery.

Surgery went well and I cruised through the first week of resting although still with the cast on, I accidentaly hit the right side of my nose with my own hand when towelling myself after a shower. When the cast came off the surgeon seemed pleased with the look of my nose even though I was a bit shocked at the huge bulby look of it, though he reassured me it was very early and significant swelling was still obvious.

Just shy of 2 weeks, pleased with the shape my nose was taking, I went for a surf against my surgeons orders but only managed about 2 hours as it was uncomfortable, to say the least, when diving under water. Additionally I bumped the right oblique side of my nose against my board in an attempt to minimise the discomort the waves would cause. (Silly) I was worried about this, so instantly went back to the car mirror and scrutinised over the shape and it appeared unchanged.

Further down the line (week 3 & 4) I was becoming extremely pleased with my new nose, the bulby appearance was easing and the beaky look had vanished additionally symmetry was near perfect and the lateral (side on) view appeared short and small. Least to say I was estatic!!

Going into week 5 (2nd post op consultation) I was sort of noticing the length and beaky look creeping back into view from oblique angle. Hoping I was being paranoid, I addressed this issue to the surgeon and he said "it shouldn't drop much more..not to like it was before" I was a bit disapointed in this reply as, to me it told me he expected this to happen.

Now heading into week 7, the length and polly beak look has almost resumed to how it was before surgery. Also from the lateral view the lower cartilage area appears to be projecting out from my face to much again, though the ridge is very slight off the face and still holds the nice straight contour. I've been told it can take up to a year for the tip to fully refine and heal and the bridge swelling eases alot earlier than the cartilage.

So I'm hoping that the case in week 3 and 4 where I was happy with the appearance was still evenly swollen and that now the dorsum swelling has eased leaving the unflattering appearance of a bulby swollen cartilage section. Though this is hard to believe when explaining the polly beak look to be present.... Peace of mind please!! Revision?