Rhinoplasty: Stories

I am currently 19 years old going on 20 this August, and I've been wanting to reshape my nose since my pre-teen years. It's a bit hooked down and I have a large bump on the bridge. My self-consciousness about my nose started when I was in middle school and it started growing larger out of proportion to the rest of my face. A couple of kids would point it out and make funny of me telling me that I looked like a bird or that I had a parrot nose. Sometimes with the kids that I would have arguments with would call me 'big nose' and it would hurt my feelings terribly and I would cry so much that I could barely talk because it was true and there was nothing I could do about it. I was never aware of that because I never looked at myself in the mirror from the side, but I did one day and I hated the sight of it. I became so self-conscious of it and I felt so ugly because I was never aware that my nose looked like that. As I grew older I kind of ignored it, but I still had a very low self-esteem. My senior year of high school I learned to accept my self how I was and learned to love myself because really I had nothing to complain about because I had perfect health. Even though my self esteem was at it's highest, I wasn't 100% satisfied with my nose, but I no longer let it bother me like it use to. Close to graduation in 2010, I decided to schedule an appointment with a cosmetic surgeon just to see what a computerized image of a rhinoplasty surgery would look like, and to go over prices. I liked the new picture of what my nose would look like after a surgery. I wasn't completely satisfied with it because I'm not sure what it would look like from the front, but the image looked way better than my original nose. I scheduled my appointment for some time after graduation. As the time went by something else came up so then I didn't have the money for the surgery; therefore, I cancelled it. Now, I have enough money available to reschedule another consultation and go through with the surgery. My new consultation will be July 20th, and I am eager to see the computerized images of my new nose because I can't really remember them from 2010. I would love to have a new nose because I am a rather small girl (5'1", 115 LB), and I'd love for it to be porportionate to the rest of my body. My nose has made me feel self-conscious when people record me in videos or take pictures of me. I don't even like to talk to people from the side I try to look at them from the front of my face. Like I said, it's not THAT big of deal anymore like it use to be, but I feel that with this surgery I would feel completely comfortable with my appearance. So hopefully my consultation goes well and I go through with the whole operation.

Thank you every one for reading, and I would appreciate advice and tips for the stages I'm going through right now about the consultation! Thanks!

So I received a call this morning and there was a cancellation and I took the new date for my consultation June the 9th. It's a little bit more than a week away. I'm kind of excited already to see the new results!

Okay, so I messed and on my last update put June when I meant JULY. So correction: my new consultation date is JULY the 9th/ next Monday! Excited! I think I have chosen the right Doctor for this which is Dr. Graper of Charlotte, NC, but I am still looking around for more/better options. :)

Hey, girls! Tomorrow is my consultation and I'm super excited to see what happens. The thing is the Dr. that I'm going to is just a cosmetic surgeon/ like he doesn't specifically specialize on operation of the face. Is that still good? or do ya'll think I should search for someone who specializes in facial cosmetic surgery?

Hello, ladies! Maybe I wasn't very clear with what I meant that he specialized in in my previous post. His specialty is "cosmetic surgery of the face and body". I will consider though looking for another surgeon who does a lot of rhinoplasty (as you guys mentioned) and who specializes only in the face. I found about Dr. Sean Freeman and he only specializes in the face, BUT I saw really good reviews on him on this website, and then not so very good ones so I'm skeptical about him. It's been really hard to find good doctor candidates here in the Charlotte area. It just seems that all the ones that I have found do not seem to have very many years of experience and that makes me kind of doubtful of them. But I will continue looking! :)

My consultation was yesterday, and like I said I had gone to this dr. before for a consultation 2 years ago. He made new measurements and everything, but he still had the old photos from two years ago so we just went with that. He has 20 years of experience. I asked him a lot of questions and he seems so professional and confident about everything. I forgot a few questions that I had in mind, so I may call in the next couple days to get them answered. We talked about potential dates for surgery and the soonest could be August the 3rd or some other time later in August if I do decide to go forward in having the surgery with him.

Another problem that I have run into is that my boyfriend is sooo opposed to me having this surgery. He hasn't even barely spoken to me since he went with me to the consultation. I'm not sure how to deal with him about it because this isn't like an everyday conflict. He tells me that I do not need surgery and that he doesn't believe in changing my nose or anything else about me. He seems like he is disappointed in me and even said that he though I was better than that. =/ I really wish he would understand how big of a deal this is to me because it's something that has bothered me since middle school and I feel like I need to do this. The good thing is that my mom supports me so that's definitely a thumbs up! :) I live with my mom and stepdad and they both support my decision which makes me very happy to know that they are there for me. Can any of you tell me how ya'll dealt with this if any of you went through something like this?

Thanks to everybody for their kind support :D

I've been taking the positive advice from you guys and I have been searching for someone who specializes in facial plastic surgery. :)

The bad thing is that I have only found 2 in my area, which isn't really even in my area; they are like over and hour away just like the previous doctor that I visited. One of them says that he was trained in Beverly hills by 2 very recognized doctors, but I'm not sure how long he has been doing surgeries because he looks very young and I didn't see anywhere on his website how many years he has been a facial surgeon; therefore, I am skeptical about him =/ He offers a free consultation, so I may check his services out anyways.

The second Dr. that I found that specialized in facial surgeries is about the same distance away, but I do not see anywhere on his website that he does rhinoplastys =/ Nothing in the photo gallery and nothing about it in his procedures. =(

I suppose I will continue looking, but I may have to end up having to proceed with a Dr. who is just a surgeon, not necessarily just facial plastic surgeon. I'll keep everyone posted :)

Hello again, everybody! I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I had been very busy with work.
So far I have 2 more consultations with 2 different doctors. One of them is this Friday, and the other one is next Friday. I'll keep posted what I think of these two doctors. I hope to be able to pick the best doctor for my rhinoplasty.

Any advice on how to pick the best Doctor is very welcome!! Thx for reading. ;)

Hey, there! I apologize again for the lack of updating. I had delayed the process of setting a date because I had things going on that needed to be taken care of before I could get the surgery. I have decided on the doctor that I want. He's the one that inspired me the most confidence and his previous rhinoplasty results on other people look great! I still don't have a date, but I should be setting one pretty soon!

Excited to say that I will be starting out the new year 2013 with a new image! I scheduled the date today for January 2nd and my pre-op is Dec. 27th! I'm so excited! After so long of looking for this new path I am finally going to do it! If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear advice of things to get or do before the surgery. Wow, less than a month already! Can't wait! :D

Just uploaded some more before pictures. So ready to upload the AFTERS. I'll try to take some profile pictures of myself to upload sometime soon.

So I have so many mixed feelings about this up coming surgery. I'm so excited for a change that is going to boost my confidence. I have waited since practically the 5th grade for this and I am finally going to go through with it January 2nd! Starting out the year with a new face. :)

I've never had any type of surgery at all so I'm super nervous. I don't know what to expect and my doctor uses general anesthesia which also kind of scares me since I know of the risks. Yikes!

So many bittersweet feelings going on inside of me! Right now I'm literally listening to "Don't worry, be happy" by Bobby McFerrin trying to feel more relaxed about it. I feel like it's too soon to be worrying about lol I'mma try and leave those feelings for closer to the surgery.

I've been reading everyone's reviews and it seems like everybody has gotten their pre-op appointment like a month before the surgery, but mine is only like a week before the surgery. Is that normal??? Kinda of worries me. Pre-op is Dec 27 and surgery is Jan 02.

Wow, time is going by so fast!! My surgery is a week from tomorrow and my pre-op is this Thursday. I hope everyone is having a Merry little Christmas :) I'll update again Thursday afternoon to tell ya'll how it goes. Thank you to everyone for all the awesome advice and support!

My pre-op appointment was today! I made the final payment for my surgery. I was given my prescriptions and I will be off to get them filled tomorrow.

I thought I was suppose to meet with the doctor, but apparently not because the nurse was waiting for me and I only met with her. She went over the paper work and asked if I had any questions. I only had one question which was how long after the surgery could I put my contact lenses back in and she said as soon as the same day. I wish I would have wrote down more questions because my mind was blank. What I would have asked was if the doctor could go over what exactly what they were going to do to me during the surgery again so that I may feel a little more at east about what was going to be done to me.. because the last time that he went over it was back in September at my first appointment. So he hasn't seen my nose since September and I don't recall him taking any pictures so now I'm thinking how is he going to operate on a nose that he hasn't seen in months!! I would have totally told the nurse that but it didn't even cross my mind until I was home! This doesn't seem like a good sign to me and to be honest it's making me feel kind of queasy and down.
DO ANY OF YOU THINK I SHOULD EMAIL OR CALL THE DOCTOR ABOUT THIS??

Also, something else that kind of bothered me was that through the paperwork that I had to read there were precautions that I was suppose to be taking 3 weeks prior to the surgery which I was never aware about. (example: such as not taking medications with aspirin) Luckily I haven't been taking anything with aspirin.

They didn't do any test except for one. They pricked my fingers to check for "hemoglobin" (whatever that is). The first try it came up 10 and the nurse said she needed a 12 or higher. The second time on my other hand it came up 12.3 so it passed.

Like I've said before I had been really excited, but now that the day comes closer the more I think about it the more nervous I get than excited.. hopefully I feel more at ease when they day comes.


Thanks everyone for reading and sharing your thoughts and opinions!

I called the doctor's office today and told them that I hadn't seen the doctor since September and they told me that he had notes and that they would go over everything before the surgery, so I feel much better now and I also felt much better after the comments that you guys left! Certainly relieved me a lot; thanks for that!!

Got my hair cut and eyebrows waxed this morning so I feel a little bit renewed already, lol.
I also went and got my prescriptions filled today. It was SIX different medications and it all added up to $125! I was like WHOAH. But oh well, I'm sure this will all be worth it in the end!! :D

Oh my goodness, tomorrow is my BIG DAY already!! I'm so excited :) There's just one thing that worries me now... I'm not 100% sure, but I may be getting sick. Like I feel that my throat is a little tinsy bit scratchy and nose has been a tinsy bit runny. Not like a regular cold, but just barely. Is this something to worry about or that I should let the doctor know about today? I sure hope not.
Well I'm going to go to the New year's mass in a little bit and then go get the rest of the things that I need for my "dog sitter" and I may update later again :)

Hope everyone has had a happy new years and hope everyone's 2013 is full of blessings and happiness!

Hello, everyone. So my surgery was yesterday and I hadn't been able to update until today because I slept the majority of the day after the surgery, but this is how it went:

Got at the doctors at 8am. I was changed into my gown and went over things with the nurse. She was putting my IV in and it was hurting terribly and I hate needles. All of a sudden I felt like I was going to vomit and my vision started to blurr. Next thing I know I was waking up crying and panting because apparently I had blacked out. It scared really bad. My boyfriend was there to calm me down and told them to please put anesthesia in my arm before they do that again because I get very light headed with pain and needles going in me. So they did and I didn't even feel it.

Doctor came in and put some marks on my face. This might be TMI (too much info) but I was told to take everything off under my gown and they laid me down on a table because they were going to put a tube in me so I could urinate during the surgery. I have no idea when they put the tube in because the next memory I have was waking up in recovery and my mom and boyfriend being there. I think I was in surgery for 1 hour and in recovery for another hour. They took the tube out and I felt it and it was kind of painful but not too bad. My boyfriend left and the nurse and my mom helped me get dressed. My throat was super sore and dry. The nurse said it was because they put a tube down my throat into my stomach to drain out the blood that I had swallowed so that I wouldn't vomit. I was super dizzy and my face was still numb. They helped me out to the car.

I slept the whole hour drive home. I had no bruising around my eyes after the surgery, but they started bruising last night a little. I've been applying cold wet gauze on them. I've been taking all my medicines at the right times, but my nose and head hurt more today then it did yesterday. I suspect it's because my face was numb all day yesterday. The tip of my nose is what hurts the most right now, especially when I talk and eat. I haven't been able to walk around much because I still feel really dizzy. I only get up to go to the bathroom. So I've basically been in bed sleeping on and off the whole time. Apple sauce is the easiest less painful thing that I've ate so far. I had macaroni too, but it was a bit harder and more painful to eat.


The sleeping hasn't been bad at all. I have my pillows propped up on my bed so that I can keep my head elevated as the nurse told me to and the Tinkerbell U shaped pillow that I borrowed from my boyfriend's little sister is super comfortable and keeps my head in place. :)

I'm about to upload a picture that I took last night when my eyes started to bruise. I can't really tell the shape of my nose yet, so I don't want to say if I like it or not, but the doctor told me that I was going to love it. I've been avoiding looking at myself in the mirror because the 1st time that I did last night made me really queasy. Well that's all for today. I think it's time for me to lay back down.

Thank you everyone for all the support!

So I had a post-op appointment today to take out the packing ( or whatever it's called) that was inside my nose. Wow, and it hurt! I felt like it was poking my brain or something, lol. My boyfriend was there with me and said that when they were pulling it out that it seemed like it was never ending. Then they showed me how to apply the pressure on the right spots of my nose whenever it starts to bleed so I did that for about 5 minutes.

I felt very dizzy so I sat down and they gave me a sprite. I rested until I felt ready to leave. I can actually breathe a little through my nose now, but I feel safer breathing through my mouth until I get more comfortable with nose breathing. My throat is hurting now I'm not sure why. Not as much pain on my nose as there was before when I had the packing. Also I"m not wearing the drip pad anymore. I think I'll just leave it on at night just in case I bleed so it won't go everywhere.

I feel so much better without the packing though! No more constant pain on the tip of my nose. My boyfriend has been so sweet! He's been by my side almost constantly and he even bought me a new U shaped pillow (memory foam) besides the Tinkerbell one he had borrowed from his little sister which was filled with micro beads. The memory foam one works for keeping my head in place when I'm watching TV and the micro-bead one is more comfortable for going to sleep because it molds comfortably around my neck.
Next appointment will be for the splint removed on Monday. Just uploaded one more pic.

Hi, there everyone! So these past couple days haven't been that hard for me because I've been sleeping like 3/4ths of the day. I think it's the meds that make so drowsy. Also I've experience a lot of dizziness which motivates me even more to stay in bed. Luckily I have my mom to help me out and bring me things when I need them and my boyfriend has been around a lot too to help out which has been great.

I still haven't been eating anything too hard. Just applesauce, oatmeal, and macaroni. Drinking plenty of fluids water and Gatorade.

Can't wait til Monday to get the splint removed to see what my new nose is looking like! :)

So I went and got my splint removed this afternoon. It hurt very much! Especially the removing of the stitches! I have yellow glue all over my nose from the cast which is very hard to remove and it hurts as well. The doctor said I could remove it slowly within the next couple days and that's exactly what I'll do. I looove my new improved nose! I like it sooo much better than how it was before!

The doctor told me the bridge was still very swollen and that I was going to have to apply pressure on it for a couple minutes about 4-5 times daily. We practiced it there and oh boy did it hurt!!!! He told me I was going to have to do this to mold my nose down to the bone like that to get a thinner looking nose.

Like I said I'm loving what I see, but I feel like the tip is a bit big. I guess it's because of the swelling, but he didn't mention anything about the tip be swollen. I have another appointment in about 2 weeks so I may discuss it with him then if not before.

I will upload a new picture as soon as I can get the yellow sticky glue off my face! lol. :)

I just uploaded a picture of my nose without the splint! My splint was removed yesterday like I mentioned and I LOVE my profile! The front view is a huge improvement too which I definitely like, but it is still too swollen for my liking because it makes my nose look wide-ish and my tip look biggish, but I know that now all it is is a matter patience for the swelling to go down :) Yeah, there's still some of the yucky yellow glue from the cast left.. still having some trouble getting it all the way off, but it's getting there.

The bottom of my nose where the stitches were is beginning to peel.. not sure if that's normal..? I have had a runny nose for the past 3 days so I called the docs office today to ask about it and they said to just continue taking my antibiotics and to definitely not blow my nose, just gently wipe it with a tissue.

Will upload more pictures where I look more half way decent (lol) as the days go by and the swelling goes down. :) Haven't been out anywhere yet, but I feel my confidence rising already! yay :) Thanks so much to everyone for all the support! This site has helped me tons!

TOTALLY WORTH IT!

So it took me a couple days after the splint was removed to be totally convinced and finally click the "Yes" on the Worth it button. I just uploaded a new pic and I can tell the swelling starting to go down which makes me happier.

The swollen-ness from the front makes my nose look wide-ish right now and the tip look bigg-ish so I feel like it makes me look like a "Who" from the 'Grinch stole Christmas' (haha) but I feel like I look SO MUCH better like this with the swollen-ness (which I know will eventually disappear) than with the big bump and droopy-ness going on my nose like before!

Yayyy. I start college next week at a new school and before I use to not look forward to meeting new people because the first thing that came to my mind was "they're probably thinking what a huge ugly nose I have" , but now I'm actually looking very much forward to it! Once again I am so thankful to have found this site and for all you people who have been so supportive and nice during my rhinoplasty journey. Well hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the Wednesday night!

This Wednesday it will be 2 weeks since the day of my procedure. Like I mentioned my nose looked huge from the swelling after the splint was removed, but it has shrunk a great bit now and I am absolutely loving my new look!!! If anyone is curious of who my doctor was it was Dr. Edward Bednar of Charlotte, NC. He did an awesome job! I feel that as the sculptor and painter he is, he did a marvelous art work with my nose. I feel that it looks very natural and fits my face very well!!! I'm so happy and I've caught myself trying to look at people face front and then I'm like thinking: wait, I don't have to do that anymore because i love my profile now!! Yayyy.

Thanks everyone for all the support. I don't know how I would have gone through this without all the valuable information that I've been able to gather from ya'll sharing your stories! xoxoxo

It's been almost 3 weeks since my surgery and I am loooving my profile so much. I was going through the post-op papers and I suddenly realized that it says that after the stitches are removed that I can begin with scar creams and it's been like 2 weeks ago since the stitches were removed and I haven't been using anything! I can totally see where the scar is forming under my nose and I'm really worried that it's going to be super visible once it's done scarring. Is it too late to start applying it? Also, my nose has still been peeling and that's not such a big deal anymore since I've been applying lotion on it's helped, but it's soo dirty. Like my pores are huge and I have huge blackheads it looks really gross.. does anyone have any tips on how to clean it?


Thanks everyone so much for your help!

March the 2nd will be 2 months since my surgery and I am happy to say that I really like my improved nose! I know it's still swollen so it may look a bit wide, but I don't think it necessarily looks bad. I love it waaay better than my original nose.

I've noticed that I still can't breathe through my nose as good as I could before my surgery. I knew this could be a risk that I would not be able to breathe as good, but it doesn't bother me that bad and in my opinion it was worth it because now I have so much more confidence; I am not constantly thinking about how bad my nose looks. Doctor said that it may be because of the swelling that I can't breathe good yet, and it takes up to a full year for the swelling to be gone. Another thing, I don't know if it is normal is that my nose has been runny ever since the surgery. At first after the surgery I caught a really bad cold and eventually it went away, but I was left with a runny nose; it does not run all the time, but it does daily. So my nose is usually got a lot mucus in it and it dries. I know it sounds totally gross, but I try to clean it often and of course very gently. I was thinking that it's been runny because of the crazy weather here in NC; one day it's in the 60s or 70;s and the next it's down to 20s/30 degrees so it might be allergies. I'm considering calling the doctor and ask about it now that I realize that it's been doing that for that long. Has anyone else had this happen to them too?

The skin around my nostrils is very dry so I moisturize it with lotion daily. These are just small side effects that I've noticed and thought I would share. Other than that I don't see any huge side effects that would make me regret going through with this procedure. I LOVE it and I have so much more confidence about my appearance now. I don't have to be worrying about when someone is taking a profile pic of me and feeling like I have to look straight at the camera. TOTALLY WORTH EVERY PENNY. :D