26 Years Old, Closed Rhinoplasty July 18th - Englewood, CO

I am having a closed rhinoplasty performed on the 18th. This is something I have wanted since I was very, very young. So young I don't remember not wanting to change my nose! I am relatively happy with everything else about myself, but I am just tired of feeling insecure about this wherever I go and whatever I do. So, I am finally doing it! I'm SUPER nervous (I've never had surgery before) but also extremely excited.

Here is a profile picture. Bumpy McBumperson. Thanks, German ancestors. (;

The closer I get to the date of the surgery, the more nervous/excited/distractable I am... and the more time I want to spend reading other people's experiences, both good and bad. I have most of my supplies - lots of vitamins, medicine, arnica, a humidifier, weirdly shaped pillows, books, etc. My biggest worries surround my boyfriend's reaction, and of course, what the heck am I going to look like?

My boyfriend is super supportive of, well, everything. He had the perfect reaction of, "you're beautiful the way you are, but if it makes you happy, I'll support you." But when I look like a horse kicked me in the face in a week and a couple days, I wonder if he'll have the same response. This is by and away the most selfish thing I've ever done. And the most money I have ever spent at one time.

That said, I am oddly looking forward to relaxing for a week and, of course, having this burden lifted off of me. It's something I never thought I would actually be able to afford or go through with. It will be such an adjustment to (hopefully) not look at pictures and just see that dang nose and be embarrassed.

Can we please just rewind to next Friday already? (;

By "rewind" I mean "fast forward." My brain might be more nervous than I am?

1 week from now I'll be... well, probably a nervous wreck about to head into surgery. Seems surreal. Right now I'm just trying to figure out what to do with myself when, 3 days after surgery, my boyfriend's sister and her boyfriend randomly decided to come pick up their car from our house and stay with us. I am thinking I will just go to a hotel and tell them I'm out of town, but I would SOOOO much rather be at home resting.

Today also marks the day when I have to start pretending I like protein shakes and kale. And to start praying fervently that Dr. Shah knows what he's doing. Eeeekkkk

I'm getting very concerned about the outcome of all of this and if it will be what I want it to be. I am going to be super annoying and send pictures of what I want to the doctor to see if it is at all realistic. Do you guys think this would be too aggressive or unrealistic? The surgery is Friday(!!) and I just want to make sure all of this will be worth it...

I swear I'm not trying to be that crazy person, but I e-mailed my doc asking questions about what specifically they're going to do. They were great about responding quickly but now they're saying they're not going to break my nose and do a full rhinoplasty? I'm concerned that the doctor said that before and now his assistant is saying otherwise and saying that he's not doing a full rhinoplasty. I only want to do this once and I really need to be on the same page as my surgeon. As if my nerves weren't already haywire...

Ok, my doc and I are on the same page. So the plan is to make my nose narrower, get rid of the hump, narrow and decrease the size of the tip (and bring it up a little). Unfortunately he said by making my nose narrower it might make the bags under my eyes larger. Hopefully that won't be the case. Has anyone experienced that? I already have dark circles (though nobody seems to notice but me...) but hopefully that won't be the case. The doc said he would treat the circles with filler if that happens but he would have to wait two months and there are risks with fillers. And I don't want to do anything else - I want this to be it!

Anyways, I can't believe in two days I will be waking up with less of a nose. I need to start focusing on being excited rather than nervous!! Send me good thoughts! xx

I mentioned this to someone in the comments also, but I am actually feeling good about surgery tomorrow. I think I've accepted it is going to completely suck for a bit, but then get gradually better and better. My biggest concern right now (looks-wise) is that I'll have dark circles under my eyes after surgery. I have all my supplies and my boyfriend is so amazing and supportive that he wants to take time off work just to take care of me. I am feeling incredibly lucky and grateful right now.

I'll try to write tomorrow post-surgery! Thanks for your support guys, it means a ton.

Im alive but bruised and this site isn't great on a tablet. Will update more later, xo

Can finally write about yesterday and the operation. Things seemed to go smoothly. Signed in some paperwork/gave them my ID and insurance card in case anything went wrong, said goodbye to my boyfriend and told him if they mess up my nose I get a free boob job (he didn't think it was funny). Then I took a pregnancy test, talked over the meds with my doctor since he prescribed me NorCo which has the same active ingredient as Vicoden, to which I am allergic. He prescribed me something else but I wasn't too fond that he wrote me a script for something I'm to which I'm allergic after I told him about it. I only have one allergy. One! Anyways,figured that out, talked to the anesthesiologist, and went over with my doc for the last time what he would be doing. Getting rid of the hump, bringing the tip in and up a bit, narrowing my nose, and narrowing the nostrils.

As promised by my anesthesiologist in cowboy boots, I don't remember anything of the surgery. Just waking up and wondering where I was and why someone interrupted my dream. Post-surgery sucked. I was nauseous, burning up, in pain, dripping weird stuff out of my nose like crazy, tired of the IV (they freak me out), and the nurse brought in the anesthesiologist because she thought was he my boyfriend for some reason. After finding my actual boyfriend, he helped me force myself to have some crackers and water, and I took some Percocet and anti-nausea medicine which I desperately needed. The nurse put an nice pack on my eyes which were already turning black and blue. I'm very happy it was a decent experience overall, and I reallllyyy want it to be a week from now so I can see it. But I am disappointed at my huge black and blue eyes- Dr. Shah assured me that with his "rapid recovery protocol" which essentially includes 30 g of protein a day, Vitamin C and Bromelain, and lots of food high in vitamin K (as well as no smoking/drinking/all the regular warnings), he hardly ever sees black eyes. I did everything right, am 26 years old and super healthy, non-smoker and very light social drinker, but still have some horrible shiners. I am worried about going back to work in 9-10 days and still having them. I don't want people to think my boyfriend beat me or anything! Ugh so I'm annoyed at that and doing the arnica/icing deal. I read online that the bruises usually last 7-10 days but I've seen people on here with bruises for way longer.

Sleeping and breathing SUCKS day 1! I am still super tired and might try to take a nap. Fortunately a lot of the gross dripping subsided today- it was really driving me crazy. My favorite thing for my eyes so far as been Swiss Therapy Eye Mask Compresses... they feel sooo amazing and relaxing. Of course, you can't watch tv or anything with them on so I just sat for a few hours yesterday listening to comedy podcasts and chilling out with those on my eyes.

Here's some pics of the final before/waiting to go into surgery and my shiners after the surgery. I'm glad to be alive and can't wait to see my new nose! Will share more when hopefully my face looks less terrifying to children.

Well hello post-op blues... not nice to meet you. I mean "blues" in two ways. One, I really look like I got in a fight. And I lost. I mean, I barely survived. I iced religiously for the first 48 hours (so until about an hour ago) and have been taking arnica/bromelain pills as well as putting on the gel. I bought makeup designed to cover up bruises online yesterday too. Two, looking like this and being useless all day is SUPER depressing. I would really like these shiners just to start to heal, but they are looking worse all the time. I have an appointment with Dr. Shah tomorrow and would really like to hear from him if I am going to look at all better by the time I have to go back to work in a week. Soooo... I'm bummed. Talk to you guys later. Warning - pics are gross too.

Had my 3 day post-op appointment with Dr. Shah yesterday and it was the first time out of the house in three days. It was fun to be able to go do something but I still have huge bruises under my eyes so I tried to mask them with makeup. It didn't really work. I almost started crying when talking to Dr. Shah because I feel so gross and I have been super congested the last couple of days. He assured me that the bruises would be gone by Friday when I get my cast off and that I just had large blood vessels in my face which made me bruise easily. It makes some sense because I would always get bloody noses as a kid (having a larger nose and having bloody noses a lot is a self-esteem nightmare). Anyways, the bruises are SLOWLY getting better and I'm looking less terrifying. My nose feels super swollen under the cast too, but other than that I don't have much to complain about. Dr. Shah said my nose turned out really nicely. I can't wait to see! Also, I washed my hair, cut my nails and shaved my legs today which makes me feel like 9 million bucks!! It's amazing how being clean can improve the way you feel. Back to more healing/icing/laziness - I'll write more soon for whomever might be interested!

Same old! Put on some makeup which kind of covers the bruises. Getting stir crazy but feel comfortable and puppy snuggles help... Hope everyone is doing well!

Cast is off and I couldn't be happier with the results!! I don't even care if swelling goes down, I'm happy with it the way it is now! I have tape on it that the doctor put but you can see the shape and everything. My nose was absolutely disgusting under the cast - I'm so happy to have it off.

Since I bled and bruised so much during surgery, my doc thinks I should be tested for a bleeding disorder. Kind of worried about that. But look at my NOSE!!! Dr. Shah is the man!

Hi all,
Apologies for dropping off the face of the earth. Had some drama with the boyfriend. As an update, I like the way my nose looks with tape rather than without!! Be prepared for breakout central on your nose and for swelling to unfortunately increase after the cast is taken off. I'm hoping what I saw right after it was taken off is what the final product will look like (remotely).

My bruises are *almost* gone and can be covered with makeup, which is awesome, because I can finally go out in public without worrying people will pass me domestic violence flyers. I went back to work today and I'm probably too highly distracted to be back. Hence this long update...

Some things I learned through nose surgery:

1. So far, it's totally worth it. Just having my nose be smaller makes me feel so much more confident and like a burden has been lifted. It's like I photoshopped my face in real life! It's never going to be a tiny Scarlett Johnansen (sp?) nose but that would look weird on me anyways.

2. I know everyone says this on here, and for a good reason: You HAVE to be able to trust your surgeon. I am so glad that I went in the week of the surgery to go over what he was going to do again so I felt comfortable with him operating on my face. It is a big deal and you should make sure you are both exactly on the same page. Trust me, you won't want to do this again.

3. Get a massage the night before. Seriously. This was the best thing I've done for myself. I was so nervous and stressed that my muscles were spazzing out. And/or take a bath, or do something that's relaxing and just about you and what makes you feel at ease.

4. Nobody notices. Or at least nobody has said anything to me yet. It's VERY weird to think that since I can see such a huge difference but it's true. Unless you are doing something super super major, nobody is going to notice, or care. You see your "flaws" or things you don't like about yourself a thousand times magnified, while everyone else just sees you for you.

5. Significant others might not understand. Especially guys. That's okay. Just make sure they don't rain on your parade and that they take care of you when you're recovering.

6. Here's the exhaustive list of things I actually used when I was recovering:
-Invest in an awesome travel pillow thing. It's impossible to sleep sitting up without one unless you're some kind of freak of nature. I got a wedge pillow too which helped me get comfortable from sitting/laying down all dang day.
-Swiss therapy Eye Masks feel soooooo nice after surgery. Kind of pricey but worth it for me.
-Have lots of small-ish sized bags of frozen veggies. I used mine a ton and never had chipmunk cheeks or swelling on my face aside from my eyes.
-Straws. It's hard to drink out of anything, especially the first day when your mouth is all numb, without spilling ALL OVER yourself.
-Jugs of water next to the bed. Your mouth gets unbelievably dry from breathing through it. Water helps wash out all the crap when you're healing, too.
-Jug of vaseline for the same purpose. I am an obsessive chap stick user and having my lips dry was torture, so I just had this by my bed.
-I think I lived off of pasta and veggie/fruit shakes. It was pretty great. Crunchy stuff did not appeal to me at all.
-I got hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin to clean my nose. Just don't get hydrogen peroxide on any open wounds unless you're a tough guy.
-Humidifier. I live in Colorado which is super dry, so this was even more essential for me.
-I washed my hair every other day in the bathtub and very carefully. Every other day I used dry shampoo instead. Be prepared to feel kind of gross. I also cleaned up and made the bed every day which helped feel less gross. But still... there's nothing really pretty about you post-facial surgery. It will pass.
-Have lots of q-tips to clean your face and apply Arnica gel.
-Have makeup for bruises in case you bruise. Wish I had gotten mine before since they messed up my order and I'm not getting it until today, but Dermablend is supposed to work very well for covering up bruising.
-Invest in a pill box!! Don't rely on someone else to keep track of your pills since they might forget also. This especially helped with the antibiotics I had to take 4 times a day. You kind of lose your mind a little doing nothing all day and it's hard to keep track of. I set out all my pills beforehand and was super glad that I did.
-If you want to get supplies you'll need post-cast, I picked up saline nasal spray and Sudafed afterwards. I also picked up oil blotting sheets because your nose is super shiny which makes your inevitable blemishes stand out way more.

7. And here's the list of things I took to help heal (thanks to Dr. Shah). I had extensive bruising but that is not common, especially if you take these things: Vitamin C, Zinc, Protein shakes of 30 mg a day, lots of vitamin K rich foods (I am so tired of kale) and vitamin K tablets, Arnica Montana gel and pill, Bromelain and/or pineapple juice, stool softeners (no joke), pain medicine, Ambien/miraclesleepinducer, and antibiotics.

8. All in all, your experience will be different than anyone else's and you're going to be just fine. It's a deeply personal experience about more than just your nose. Make sure your mental and physical health are up for it.

Ookkkaaayyy, so if you have any questions on that feel free to shoot them my way. Here is my swollen nose 10(ish?) days post-op. I'm hoping the swelling will decrease, especially in the tip, but this whole thing is going to have to teach me PATIENCE!

Hope everyone is doing well. xo

This is 11 days post obviously so I am swelled and my skin sucks right now. I am especially swelled in the tip which you can see.

Patience is a virtue... at least that's what I keep repeating to myself. Another note of advice to anyone who has an upcoming surgery - when they take off the cast, at least in my experience and a few others on here, your nose is a lot smaller than 2nd, 3rd, 4th days after cast removal. I was SO excited the first day and liked it so much!! Then the swelling came. I notice it especially in the tip (sensation-wise and looks-wise) and on the bridge where he got rid of the hump. It's frustrating because you've paid all this money and went through the recovery process to still have a nose that's larger than you would like. Don't get me wrong - it is smaller (I'm not sure it could have gotten larger), and I feel confident from the sides, but I am still just waiting for the final results. My advice, and what I've been trying to convince my mind of, is to think of your nose job as taking place much later - 2 months or so later - and your nose just looking a little better in the meantime. Now, let me know if that works... haha.

Here is a good angle I took earlier. It's weird to not want to immediately photoshop the hump off or change the lighting so I don't look like I'm setting the Guinness World Record for Biggest Nose. It's going to take some time to actually be okay with pictures. By the way, this record does exist and I looked it up and now you guys have nothing to complain about (; Just kidding.

One more thing, and this is gross, but wouldn't be the first gross thing I posted: I think when everything is healing it kind of smells bad. I keep wondering what is stinky then it hit me that it's likely me. And it's likely just inside my nose and nobody else can tell. I asked my boyfriend if I smelled bad (he would tell me! And he would make fun of me!) and he said no. But just as a forewarning... recovery is gross. In many ways. Thank goodness it's temporary.

Hope everyone that had surgery is healing quickly and those that are about to are feeling safe and comfortable!

PS - I got blood work and I don't have a bleeding disorder or anything. I guess I just bruise really easily. Who knew?

Not as small as I would have liked, but SO glad it's better than it was before... I can almost not stand to look at before pictures! Also a picture of me being happy because I don't have a monster nose anymore.

I am still taping my nose at night, and did so especially after hanging out with kids. I don't know how you ladies have done it with kids around! They just love to hit your nose accidentally! I probably should be eating better and the swelling would go down more. It's just nice to not obsess over this anymore. Well, I still obsess a little... (: My mom comes into town next month and I'm curious if she'll notice a difference. She probably will. Oh well - it's not like I can take it back!! I wouldn't want to anyways.

Almost at week three and haven't really noticed a difference in swelling. I'm starting to think maybe I didn't have much and it just looked smaller with the cast pressing down on it for a week. My nose is still kind of big, as you can see in the pictures, but definitely smaller than it was. I still feel kind of a bump on the ridge so I'm going to ask my doc about that.

I also have noticed more bags under my eyes and wrinkles. I don't know if that's because my eyes swelled/bruised so much or because of where he broke my nose. He did warn me about that. He said he can put fillers to make it less visible but jeesh I've spent enough money!! And having bruises from anything again and doing even more does not appeal to me. Neither does looking tired all the time. Either way, I'm still happy I did it. I am no longer scared of pictures or side angles which is a super strange feeling and a huge relief.

Jeez, time is super relative. Pre-surgery, it dragged on and on and now it's flying by. I have my one month appt with Dr. Shah on Monday. I can finally focus on other things in my life besides my nose (though I am still super excited by people's stories on here). Here are some updated pictures. I know, my nose looks like a lot of people's "before" pictures. I'm already wondering if I'm going to want a revision in a year. I just wish he had done a little more. Patience...

Also, I don't really care about the way my nostrils look (should I? oh well.) but I have a significant scar on my left side still. Putting scar cream on it. I didn't expect perfection, anyhow.

I missed my one month post op appointment but went in on Wednesday instead. I was concerned that there were bumps on the side of my nose and that the results weren't as dramatic as I'd like. I don't look like the simulations yet!! I know it's still early though. My doctor said there's still a lot of swelling, especially in the tip, and that should be the slowest to resolve. I didn't get a steroid shot, which is fine by me since needle are kind of terrifying. He wants me to keep taping at night and pushing on the bone at the top of my nose.

My boyfriend took pictures of me with our friend's dog and our dog and wow- my profile is fantastic!! It's so weird to get used to being okay with pictures. Overall I'm very happy with my results and am glad I did it. Dr. Shah is very skilled and I'm glad I went to him. Pictures to follow!! Xo

Update:

Well, after roughly 6 months post-surgery, feeling relatively good and mostly recovered from my cosmetic surgery in July, I was playing racquetball with my boyfriend and he accidentally hit me - er - spiked me - in the face with a racquet. Broken nose. Absolutely devestated.

I want to share my experience with this in case anyone else goes through this and I want to update my review on Dr. Shah based on this experience.

So, face smashed - we go directly to the hospital. I get x-rays, I call Dr. Shah. Let me say that I have no earthly idea what to do in the scenario where I get a cosmetic surgery on my nose then break it 6 months later. So I called him in the waiting room to be seen at the hospital, in case he would want to do anything or want to know. He talked to my doctor in the hospital and she relayed to me that he would be doing a closed reduction to correct the nasal fracture on Friday (I went to the hospital on Tuesday night). I thought - great! I have an expert that's willing to help me out. Huge relief and feelings of pre-emptive gratitude towards Dr. Shah.

I called Dr. Shah's office in the morning, and his assistant tells me that they don't know what they are going to do yet - they need to see me first. That makes sense. He looked at my x-ray and my nose and said he wasn't sure where the break occured or if it was even there - that the doctor at the hospital may have misread the x-ray due to him breaking my nose in July for the cosmetic procedure. Granted, everyone I talk to and that sees my nose can see exactly where it's broken (including the doctor at the hospital) - there was a visible bump where the bone was moved. But I digress...

He puts me on a steroid pack so he can see what it looks like without the swelling, and asks to see me next Wednesday. I go along with it. His assistant calls me at 5:30 Tuesday night to cancel our Wednesday appointment and to see me on Friday. Not for any sort of procedure, but just to see me. At this point, Wednesday is the last day I can use my insurance to have this adjustment made before it is too late and my nose has healed in this awkward lumpy state. I'm out of time. So I call my insurance company - they are WONDERFUL and get me in right away to do the procedure even though I should have just went with them initially. I hear nothing more from Dr. Shah or his assistant.

I don't think I'm overreacting in saying that I am really disappointed in several aspects of Dr. Shah's office with this experience that was horrible enough to begin with. In addition to getting the runaround from the office and weird, dismissive calls from his secretary, I also still had a bump on my nose before I broke it and after the surgery he performed (the entire reason I had the procedure in the first place was to get rid of the German bump). So I already wasn't thrilled with it before it was broken and the amount of money that I spent to *still* have a bump on my nose. Basically:

-Please tell me if it isn't your place to fix something like this, rather than giving me a runaround for a week and a half. I'm a reasonable person. I don't know what the protocol is for this. I understand if it's not your responsibility.
-Please don't tell the hospital doctor that you will be doing a closed reduction and fix the fracture if you really aren't planning on doing so or need to do more evaluation first. I have work commitments that I have been changing due to the changing nature of Dr. Shah's guidance.
-Canceling a medical appointment at 5:30 PM the day before a 10:00 AM appointment the next day (not even personally, through your assistant), is unprofessional and very frustrating when I'm under a time constraint.
-The entire attitude of Dr. Shah and his assistant being completely indifferent and "not sure" about what was going on was both unnerving and exasperating. The doctors through Kaiser knew exactly where the break was and how to fix it. Why wouldn't Dr. Shah, someone that specializes in nasal and facial structure and surgery?

The illusion of him and his office caring for their patients has been made painfully clear and I truly wish I had gone to a different doctor for both the cosmetic surgery on my nose and the repair of the fracture.

Anyways, I am all fixed up now thanks to the doctors at Kaiser that got me in last minute before it was too late to fix and I would have had to have my nose broken again in order to repair the healed fracture. I am more than willing to update this review if I have a better experience with Dr. Shah's office in the future, but for now, I am wildly unimpressed with the entire process and the money that I have spent.

Long story short: if you are looking for a facial surgeon in the Denver area, I would recommend going to another one for both the results of your investment and for any follow up care.

Pictures of my broken nose for your viewing non-pleasure. Not sure how to flip them the right way on my phone.