Rhino-septoplasty Success at 4 Months Post Op

It has been 3 1/2 years since surgery. I am happy with the way my nose appears. It is not how I always imagined it would look but rather it is in good proportion to my face. My eyes are now the focal point of my face from the front and profile. Know to be realistic with your expectations.

Something to note is that all the positive results I received from the septoplasty ended about 1 1/2 years post-opt when I began to get chronic sinus infections and felt miserable for about one year. I went to my ENT (not Dr Dayan) and he took a CAT scan of my sinuses. The photo revealed that I still had a deviated septum, had tremendous swelling and needed sinus surgery. I went for a second opinion and received the same diagnosis and recommendation. I haven't had the surgery (yet) and have found some relief with medications over the past six months. The ENTs said that it could be just the way my body healed post op. I have not talked to Dr. Dayan about my sinus issues; I don't see the point since he won't be performing the sinus surgery or overseeing my care.

The reason for my "not sure it was worth it" review is because though I am content with my appearance, I'm not sure if the surgery caused my sinus issues and my septum was not corrected. I don't really know the cause of my issues but having a sinus infection more days than not for over a year is enough to wonder if it all was worth it or not.

I wanted a rhinoplasty ever since the 4th grade when my nose began to shape to more ethnic proportions of my Italian heritage. Though I have always loved looking Italian, I never liked looking like I had a big nose. So after many years of consideration and researching tons of docs, I finally decided to go for it.I knew I also had a deviated septum and my surgeon was also an ENT. So we decided to have both procedures done.My insurance picked up most of the septoplasty so I figured why not?I ended up with an open procedure that took about 1 hour for the rhinoplasty and 3 hours for the septoplasty. No one expected it would take that long.It was a tough recovery initially. I did not want to leave recovery as I was dizzy and nauseous. I had a neurological reaction that caused me to shake and my teeth to chatter uncontrollably. This last about 1 hour and occurred about 4 hours post op. I had minimal pain (took no prescription paid meds) and no bruising. I did have and continue to have swelling. Sleeping was difficult for the first few nights as my mouth was very, very dry from only being able to breath out of it. I also bled quite a bit and was changing my bandages about every two hours until the splint was removed 6 days later. The PA pulled out a clot (sorry for the disgusting description) and miraculously, my nose stopped bleeding!The septoplasty has proved so far to be extremely successful. I can breath and actually blow my nose productively! I sleep better and snore a lot less. To be honest, I did not even care about the septoplasty initially. I am SO GLAD I had it done. I did not know how good breathing could be! I did just have a sinus infection so let's hope for continued improvement in that regard.In terms of the rhinoplasty- I am so happy. At first I was very tentative of the results because of all the swelling. I had a bulbous tip and a nice dorsal hump pre-op. But before surgery it always looked good and pretty symmetrical from the frontal view. For the first few months, my nose appeared wider and frankly appeared less attractive in photos than it did pre-op. I was worried but just held onto the words of my surgeon- "the swelling will continue to go down". He was right. I am so happy with the results. I still have more healing to go in the tip and columnella but I notice it looking better and better every week- especially when I get good rest.My doc also took some tissue from behind my ear to place on the top of my nose. I have thin skin and he wanted to make sure that no unevenness would show through. You cannot tell at all by looking at my nose that he did that. However, my ear is taking a long time to feel normal again. It was the most painful part of the recovery. It still feels to this day like I have sunglasses sitting behind my ear or my hair pulled behind it- even if I don't. I also can't wear my ear-buds in my right ear any longer. My doc says that it will heal back to normal- eventually. It is all good. TOTALLY worth it. My confidence in my surgeon grows everyday.