It really changed my life!! I love my new nose :)

Hi!! It's been 7 months since my surgery. Wow--the recovery really is long. I have seen a dramatic change in the last few weeks. I really recommend being patient--you won't believe how much swelling can obscure your result.

My upper lip is no longer tight. I really thought I was going to have a permanently tight upper lip but over the course of this year it's totally gone away. My sense of smell is probably 80% recovered--that was another worry of mine.

My nose projects much less than before, and now it looks good in both flash and natural lighting. I am much more photogenic. It's so much straighter and shorter. It's amazing how my nose used to rule my life and now I hardly ever think about it.

I saw some people I hadn't seen in a year and they said I looked different but I don't think they guessed that I had plastic surgery.

The only problem I am experiencing is that I seem to have an very small implant on my tip that is visible at times. No one has mentioned it, but I notice it sometimes. I'm worried that it was placed too superficially or something.

Anyway--I have gotten in the habit of sleeping on my back so I usually keep my head elevated. I don't really tape my nose. Nor do I massage.

I still swell when I exercise so I have been taking it easy.

Dr. G is really a wonderful man. I wish all people who were seeking rhinoplasties would consult with him. He is rather low key but he is AMAZING. I can't even stress enough how well he understood how I wanted to look. I am so glad he didn't raise my bridge like I asked, I'm also glad he narrowed my nostrils without doing an alar base reduction, and I'm glad he didn't touch anything but my tip. Not to mention all his staff are incredibly trustworthy---really the gold standard. If I could put this much faith in all doctors I would get a few more procedures done!! For the first time in my life I love taking photos and I feel confident enough to attract the guys I really want. I'm so glad I found his practice.

It's now October and WOW--I can't believe it's been almost 6 months since the surgery.

I feel like a completely different person. I'm so happy. I deleted almost all my before pics but I found a few the other day, and I don't even recognize my old self!!

Since my nose is both shorter and smaller, it's really changed the proportions of my face. I'm seriously ecstatic!! The amazing thing is that somehow my surgeon managed to make the skin itself look thinner, I honestly forgot how my nose used to be a bit bulbous. The biggest difference is when I smile, my nose doesn't spread out anymore.

I'm hoping it will look even better in the next 6 months. I'm so happy I did this!! I am so much more confident and I have no trouble looking people in the eye anymore. It has really changed my life.

I wanted to write this review to encourage those who are thoughtfully considering this procedure. This year I finally went through with my rhinoplasty, I'm in my early twenties but I've wanted this for years.

For the first time ever, I actually feel feminine! It's changed my life completely.

I waited until I found a surgeon that I really liked. Looked at many before and afters, and was active on sites like makemeheal.

So far it's only been a few months, and every month it gets smaller.

This has been my experience:

General anesthesia, when administered well, is not too bad. I didn't vomit after surgery. I was a little aggressive coming out of it, I was told.

I had no pain following the surgery.

I wore a cast for a week. It was gorgeous when the surgeon took it off.

Then it swelled A LOT. It looked awful. I thought it was honestly going to remain this way, but now it's really starting to resemble the cute, small nose I had when the cast first came off.

So far, no complications of any kind. I took antibiotics for a week after surgery, and I did some taping as I was instructed by the doctor.

My sense of smell was affected adversely, I'll update on this in the coming months.

But my singing voice really improved and I can breathe!! so this was an additional benefit.

I hope the final result is exactly what I pictured. We'll see!