See ya later big nose :) - Chicago, IL

RealSelf has helped me make my decision about booking my rhinoplasty so I thought I would share my process through rhinoplasty as well. My nose has bugged me ever since I was 11 years old. I'm constantly self-conscious of it and dislike most of my pictures. I have a hump, bulbous tip, and too much projection. My friends and family tell me I don't need the surgery but if I don't get it I'll always wonder. I finally got my surgery booked a while back for over spring break! This is the only time that will work for me since I'm a college student and start my internship right when summer begins. My open rhinoplasty is booked for March 9th! I'm really excited but very nervous. I keep psyching myself out, most likely due to watching videos of open rhinoplasty (it's not pretty). Something I've been waiting for years for will finally be here in only 7 short days! I'll keep you updated once I have the surgery. :)

I had my surgery Friday morning and it went very well. Dr. Shah and his staff were phenomenal.
So far the pain hasn't been bad too bad. Friday I was in no pain and the drive back home was fine thank goodness. Yesterday it got a little worse and it was hard to talk so I slept most of the day. Right now it just feels like I have a cold and a headache.
My bruising isn't too bad just my left eye is a little blue. I have been putting frozen peas on it constantly as well as using arnica montana and bromelain supplements in hopes to help reduce the swelling and bruising (not sure if it is).
I have been living off of smoothies, applesauce, and mashed potatoes. I will probably take a luke warm/cold bath today just to feel clean and to not increase the swelling with a hot bath.
I'm really excited to see my nose without the cast even though I'm sure it will be extremely swollen. I get it off Thursday :) I let Dr. Shah decide what type of nose would look best with my face since he is the expert and I was unsure what type of nose I really wanted. The computerized after images looked natural and like my nose but smaller and refined. Only four days!!!

Recovery Summary

Day of Surgery- Woke up from surgery with a little pain but the nurse kindly fed me applesauce with vicodin to make that go away and added nausea medicine to my IV because of my long drive home. This day was very easy/enjoyable thanks to the drugs I was either sleeping or singing in the car with my ice packs on. All I ate was naked smoothies with a straw and applesauce because my mouth was numb and I drooled a bit. Going out in public (gas stations for the bathroom) is a fun experience people stare but try not to look you in the eye because you look so ridiculous bruised, cast, and a feminine look alike product taped across your face.

Day 1- This day was worse but more miserable than painful. I felt like I had a bad cold with a throbbing head. Pain medicine and frozen peas were my comfort. I added cooked spinach, quinoa (good protein), and mashed potatoes to my diet. I constantly was drinking water with a straw all recovery week because my mouth got really dry.

Day 2- This was the worst day for me for discomfort. I just lounged around and slept mostly while following the same regimen as day 1.

Day 3- Started to feel a lot better on day 3! Getting up and walking around makes you feel less miserable than just laying around so I added that to my routine. I could actually function such as studying and making myself meals etc. I stopped taking my pain meds and switched to Tylenol.

Day 4- Back to kind of my normal self and can start to somewhat breath through my nose (my left nostril mainly). I didn’t have to take any pain meds or Tylenol this day. I even cleaned and made chocolate peanut butter cupcakes for fun today!

Day 5-Day 6- Just keep getting better and can’t wait to be able to workout and get back to my normal daily routine in a couple of weeks.

Swelling/Bruising
My swelling and bruising weren’t bad at all. I got one little bruise under my left eye and not too much swelling besides my nose. This is probably due to Dr. Shah using precision and care during the surgery. I also took supplements of vitamin C, Arnica Montana (pills, and gel form), and Bromelain while icing religiously. I followed a pretty healthy diet before and during the recovery including lots of vegetables and fruits. “They” say that pineapple helps swelling so I added a lot of that to my recovery smoothies.

My necessary items
-Q-tips, gauze, medical tape
-Saline (lots of it to clean out the crust in my nose)
-Deep Clean Neutrogena cleansing wipes- great to clean my face when I didn’t want to move
-Straws (My mouth and teeth hurt/felt numb so straws saved me)
-Peas in gloves/plastic baggies- I used peas in gloves then switched to plastic ziplock baggies after 2 days because I liked that better. (I iced 3.5 days)
-Vaseline (Constantly rubbing on my lips to stop dryness).
-Pillows, blankets and a recliner to make a nest for the healing process.

***Google says you’re not suppose to wash your hair for a week after rhinoplasty but I’m a grease ball so I did wash my hair carefully in a shallow bath and didn’t even get water close to my cast. Being clean does make you feel SOO much better.
***Don’t watch comedies during recovery it hurts so BAD when you laugh! I even got mad at my Dad for making me laugh too much.