Rhino/septoplasty - Denver, CO

I had a rhino and septoplasty on October 29. I gotta say, I have read many reviews on here saying that there was no pain, but I had a ton. I also had a ton of work done. Besides the straightening and cosmetic portion of a usual rhinoplasty, I had the inner septum straightened, turbinate reduction and had my narrow nasal passages widened. The multiple procedures left me with splints in my nose and a lot of pain. however, my splints were removed today and the pain is now completely GONE. Huge relief. And I can breath better than I can ever remember being able to.

Now, being able to concentrate on things other than the constant pain I was in, I can see signs of the beautiful work my surgeon did and am so excited to see what is hiding under the cast!!

Advice:

- Arnica! I started using the tablets maybe a week before. I didn't like the gel after the surgery tho. It irritated my face more than anything.
- ICE! I had no bruising and minimal swelling. I iced all day and all night. During the day I iced with gel packs, and frozen peas stuffed into surgical gloves. And at night I slept with something called an Arctic ice cooler. It's basically a cooler and pump hooked up to pads. The water is pumped thru the cooler and into the pads where it circulates ice cold water . My boyfriend had one from his many surgeries and was able to get me a kind of Mask that is made specifically for rhinoplasty. The constant icing also worked to help minimize my pain when the meds didn't seem to help.

I would definitely recommend my DR. He is knowledgable, and has a great bedside manner. I also found him to be very realistic, which was why ended up choosing him in the first place. We discussed my goals and he was very upfront with me on his own ideas and whether or not he thought he could achieve my goals. It's too soon to tell, but I'm pretty sure he did exactly what I wanted. Fingers crossed. I'll post before and after pics when this cast come off.

Tomorrow I get the cast off!!! Yay! I will post pics then. I have some uneven swelling making the nostrils appear crooked and paranoia about damaging the healing process or deviating something, but all in all, I can already tell it was SO WORTH IT. The pain has been non existent since the inner splints were removed Fri and I'm really loving the shape and height of the tip of my new nose. I'm Almost sad to know that it's most likely going to drop. I was VERY insistent with my dr about not turning it up TOO much and now I'm wishing I had been a little more aggressive!! Haha. But ultimately my main goal was being able to breath. And now I can. So as long as that continues, I'm a happy girl.

Well today is D day. Honestly I'm worried. I've been bumping the heck out of my nose in my sleep. It's really weird. I am terrified I've done something to deviate the septum while healing etc. :-/