22 Year-old Female, my Rhinoplasty Experience! - Beverly Hills, CA

Hi! I had been using RealSelf to explore rhinoplasty as an option for myself, and I decided to make and account to share my experience in return. I'm still learning how to post, so this might get edited.

I'll start with my background. I am a 22 year-old girl living in Los Angeles, California. Ever since middle school I had been unhappy with my nose. I am half Armenian and had the typical large Armenian nose. I disliked its prominence, its width, the little side bumps on my bridge, the large tip, and the drooping tip that additionally depressed when I smiled. It felt too big for my face, and I wanted to feel more feminine and less goofy. I was never bullied, but people have made disheartening comments through my life and called me names, and I developed a nagging anxiety about my nose that affected my self esteem and general comfort.

I thought about rhinoplasty for years, but timing, cost, fear, insecurity, and my young age held me back. Finally after my college graduation, the period between university and employment seemed like the ideal time to pursue it. After a lot of online research (and playing on Photoshop!), I came out to my mom and my boyfriend of 4 years about wanting to explore this. More than anything else they were surprised, because I hadn't ever openly expressed insecurity. But they both understood and were supportive which was awesome. I have some money saved up, but am also utilizing a payment plan and possibly a loan from my parents until I start working full-time. It's a big hit, but I decided that relieving myself of this self-consciousness and anxiety for possibly another 70 years was worth it!

I'll post again separately about my consultations and prep!

I'll write this next update about my pre-op consultations. I used RealSelf as my primary tool for finding a surgeon. After hours of browsing, I scheduled consultations with two doctors: Richard Fleming and Robert Kotler, both in Beverly Hills, California.

Richard Fleming stood out to me because he was a Facial Plastic Surgeon, had decades of experience, great reviews, and had the most comments about rhinoplasty on RealSelf. I easily scheduled a waived-fee consultation with him for the next week. I started off slightly unhappy with his office. They kept my mom and I waiting for over an hour before we saw him, and their office seemed kind of dated with creaky antique furniture and unsanitary cloth towels in the examination room. However, meeting with Dr. Fleming was great. He heard all my needs, was friendly and confident, and very thoroughly pointed out on my face each thing he would tackle and specifically how. He used pointers and drew diagrams to explain the anatomy of my nose and the surgical techniques he would use, which I loved. I scheduled a follow-up appointment with him where he would draw on my blown-up photographs. My mom and I both felt like we would be comfortable having him perform the surgery.

Robert Kotler stood out to me because he was a Facial Plastic Surgeon, had decades of experience, a ton of amazing reviews specific to rhinoplasty, was a rhinoplasty specialist, and had before/after photos that looked customized to each face and natural. I easily scheduled an appointment with his nice staff for a $200 consultation fee. His office was more contemporary, and after having photos taken, I worked with their professional predictive imaging technician to create a desired result together. She knows Dr. Kotler's work well and promised to only create an image that he could produce through surgery. We then met Dr. Kotler, who gave his positive opinion of the images, heard my desires for surgery, and discussed the procedure further.

It was here that I was thrown off guard. Kotler wanted to do a closed surgery, Fleming wanted it open. Kotler didn't want to fix my slightly deviated septum (no breathing trouble), Fleming wanted to fix it just in case. Kotler wanted to release the muscle that pulled my nose down with smiling, Fleming said my nose was unaffected by that muscle. Kotler wanted to keep it simple, Fleming wanted to transplant cartilage from my septum into my nostrils to better support them. Kotler loved to utilize predictive imaging, Fleming thought it gave patients unrealistic expectations and was a poor choice. Both of these surgeons have decades of facial plastic surgery experience and wonderful reviews, but they contradicted each other on very fundamental things. Perhaps there just isn't one "right" answer, but I still didn't know who to follow.

I was feeling confused and lost after that consultation and didn't know what to trust. I turned back to RealSelf and the surgeons' websites, and after a lot of thought and going over my resources again, I chose Dr. Kotler. He was the rhinoplasty specialist, worked with more ethnic cases, seemed to keep up with advancements in the field rather than stay old-school, his reviews on RealSelf were very specific to rhinoplasty, and his before/after photos looked more like noses I would want for myself. I do think Dr. Fleming could have given me great results too, but I had to make a choice and that's what I decided.

The one thing I still wanted from Dr. Kotler was a more thorough, very specific detailing of exactly how he would tackle each of my issues through surgery. Rather than just approving of the predictive imaging and giving me a basic outline, I wanted to hear very specifically what he would do. I scheduled a second consultation that went very well, and I put down my deposit for my surgery with him only a few weeks away! Attached are my predictive images from my first consultation with Dr. Kotler and his staff.

I'll write this post covering anything between my second consultation with Dr. Kotler and my surgery. After my consultations and scheduling, I was mostly excited! It just felt crazy that after years of never mentioning that I wanted to pursue this, it was actually going to happen. Most of my anxiety lay in two places: telling friends and emotions through recovery.

Coming out to my family and boyfriend was scary enough, and now I had to think about if/how to tell other people in my life. It makes me feel so awkward and vulnerable to bring it up! I ended up telling a few friends when I was asked about upcoming plans. Mostly everyone has just been surprised, happy for me, and excited to see my results! If you're worried about telling people in your life, be comforted that at least for me, it's been getting easier and easier with every person I tell.

I was also nervous about my anxiety during recovery. I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks, and I worried that being patient through pain and grisly early results would be tough for me. I've read that people are often unhappy with their immediate results, looking too swollen or piggish, and feel regret. I knew to expect these feelings and that I can only judge my results after weeks if not months of healing, but it will be hard to not be shaken by them.

Since there were a few weeks until my surgery, the thought of it kind of fell to the background. As I started making plans for recovery time and going through the pre-op instructions, it felt like I was making plans for somebody else. It only hit me the day before surgery that this was actually happening, and I got pretty scared. I talked about it with my family and just reassured and distracted myself. I knew it was just anxiety rather than reconsideration, so I just kept reminding myself why I was doing this and focused on moving forward.