Rhinoplasty: Stories

I am 33 years old and have hated my nose since I was old enough to be conscious of it which was around 12 or 13. It was very long, bumpy, and crooked. It made me very uncomfortable to be seen or photographed at certain angles. I always wanted to get it fixed but plastic surgery just seemed like such a huge expensive production. I have kids so this made it even harder to imagine doing, especially the embarrassment factor w/ other parents knowing and judging.

Anyway, I got over all of that when I was looking through some photos and realized that I just couldn't live the rest of my life with this nose. I felt like 20 years was a pretty fair shot to try and accept something and it just wasn't happening. Nothing else about my appearance ever came close to how I felt about my nose.

I decided to find some local plastic surgeons online and looked at many portfolios. I finally booked a consult w/ a facial plastic surgeon who was also an ENT. Her portfolio looked great so I knew if she could achieve results for others she could probably do it for me as well. At the first appoinment I was told that I also have a severly deviated septum which was contributing to the crookedness.

The whole process from consult to surgery took 18 months and I am now 2.5 weeks post-op. I am so happy with the results of my surgery I wish I did this 10 years ago.

The actual surgery took far longer than the PS expected. In fact, she told me my nose was the hardest one she had ever done in 20 years because I had some very strange cartilage in my tip. This did freak me out at first because I didn't know if she had been able to achieve the result we talked about. I was assured from both the PS and the nurses that it looked great but I had to wait 8 days to see.

The hardest part of this whole experience was really the anticipation of what was under that cast. That week was in slow motion and yes, it was very uncomfortable. Days 2 and 3 were the worst. I was swollen, bruised, couldn't taste, breathe, and was stuck in the house.

However, it was SO worth it because I love my nose. I look better, breathe better, and am so glad I chose the surgeon I did.

I didn't mention anywhere in my inital review what I was having done so here is it: The bump was obviously shaved down, the tip deprojected and lifted, the bridge toward the tip was narrowed, plus my deviated septum fixed and turbinate reduction.

Oh, I forgot one last thing done to the tip and that was slightly rounding it as it was excessively pointy, apparent in all the before pics

I am about 5 weeks post op and see the swelling really go down. I do notice that as it goes down I still have the slightest bump on the left side of my bridge which doesn't really bother me. The right is completely straight and from the side the bump is gone too. I am not sure why this is but I will ask the surgeon next week. My worst angles used to be 3/4 and left profile but now I feel completely comfortable being photographed from ALL angles
On a functional note, I did get back to running about 3 weeks post op and still my biggest challenge is the cold dry air. If it is under 40 degrees my nose just throbs and continues to do so even after I finish until I warm up.
I also used to get migraines every 2 weeks like clockwork. I haven't had one in 6 weeks so I am thinking that the deviated septum might have had something to do with this? only time will tell...