Rhinoplasty / Septoplasty to Improve Form and Function - Chicago, IL

I'm almost to the 6 month mark post op! Time has flown. I've seen Dr. Shah four times since the surgery and every visit has gone well. I continue to be impressed by the service and courtesy of his office. The last visit I had he and his staff even helped me get in and out in time to not have to go back down to feed the parking meter, which I thought was really considerate of them. In this world, I think it's hard to find people that actually care about making your life easier.

So far, so good with the nose. It feels much closer to a 'natural' part of my face now. I wash it easier and don't sleep with my neck pillow anymore. But it's still a little hard and swollen at the tip. Much less swelling on the bridge though. There are days where I wake up and it looks pretty puffy but Dr. Shah has been addressing this by giving me injections and monitoring each visit with photos. Since my 1 month visit I told a few more family members about the procedure and they were so kind. Really I think the work speaks for itself. I hope the swelling does continue to go down, I realize that rhinoplasty results really do take time so I remain happy and hopeful.

This week I had my 1 month check up (5 weeks since the surgery, 4 weeks since the cast came off) with Dr. Shah. For this appointment, true to my general experience the office staff were all so nice and supportive. Dr. Shah took the time to really look at my nose and evaluate the swelling. He didn't seem rushed and cared about the ease of my ability to come back in another month. He even chatted with me a little about my job, which was really nice and made me relax a little. He said I'm still really swollen so he gave me a couple injections and made a longer plan about my follow up care and appointments, which gave me some piece of mind. I had been nervous about the pain of the injections but I actually didn't think they hurt very much. And they did help quite a bit, after about 48 hours l could see a noticeable difference in the swelling.

At this point I'm ready to review my experience. I would say that the procedure was certainly the right choice for me and Dr. Shah was a wonderful surgeon. His staff has been patient and attentive to my needs and Dr. Shah has been every bit the professional. He has a great eye for noses and I'm happy I put a little trust in him when we were doing the morphs. I also really like that the follow up appointments are covered in the cost of the procedure. I'm so SO happy with my results. I've seen many friends and family members since the surgery and no one has said anything besides telling me I look rested and pretty. I even asked a few people if they noticed anything different (to see if they might be able to tell) and no one guessed! I think I'm more excited to put on makeup now and try to look good because I'm really much more confident. And one of the best parts is that I no longer hate candid photos. I used to be the person who would always put their hand up and try to avoid my picture being taken from certain angles but now I really don't mind at all. My only regret is that I didn't do this sooner.

I know how important pictures are but I'm just not sure when I will be ready to post them. If anyone would like some blacked out photos or to hear about my experience, please feel free to reach out to me privately.

Just wanted to let everyone know that the surgery went well. The staff at 900 N. was really great, very responsive and attentive. During my recovery, Dr. Shah's office called and checked up on me every day post op, which was nice. His staff seems very thoughtful and supportive and I appreciate that. I had a week with the cast on, which flew by because I slept a LOT! Dr. Shah removed my cast and exterior sutures after 7 days and it didn't hurt. Although I'm verryyyyy swollen right now in both the middle and tip of my nose, I am happy so far. It's difficult to really get a good idea of how the nose will look under all this swelling but Dr. Shah looked at my nose and reassured me that this is not the final result. (I'm not sure that I would be happy if this WAS the final result but I know that it is not.) I knew going into this procedure that it takes weeks and months for the final result to be fully evaluated. I trust Dr. Shah and I am just focusing on doing my part of the recovery work by following the instructions his office gave me to the letter. I go back in a few weeks but in the interim I'm resting when I can, avoiding direct sun exposure to my face, taping my nose at night, sleeping propped up and eating fresh, organic fruits and vegetables with healthy and healing properties. I have taken advantage of the low sodium diet restrictions to really evaluate what I'm putting in my body. I've always been pretty health conscious but sodium can really add up! And I can already appreciate some parts of improvement on my nose, which is good. I'm hopeful for the future and know that waiting is the hardest part. I look forward to the coming weeks and months to see how my new nose will look post swelling!

Additionally, I know that photos are helpful for others but I am not ready at this time. However, I am happy to answer questions and give more details, just send me a pm!