My rhinoplasty experience was great - Miami

After years of wanting to repair a previously broken nose, I finally made the decision to move forward with rhinoplasty. After a lot of research, I found an outstanding surgeon in Miami with a great reputation. I had an initial consultation where he had a lot of photos of past patients. This was a departure from other surgeons that could not show me a lot of sample photos. I also met some of his staff, all of which were very warm and welcoming. During this meeting, I also learned that several of the staff had been with the practice for many years. This was another indicator that it was a solid practice with a good history. For the next few weeks, the friendly and amazing staff worked with me to schedule the surgery. To my surprise, the procedure was done under twilight sedation and only lasted about an hour. It is my understanding that the doctor re-broke and set the nose, added some cartilage (taken from my ear) for support, and took some tissue from the end of my nose to make it less bulbous at the tip. It was an “open” procedure, meaning that he made an incision at the base of the nose to access the areas that required reparation. On the morning of the procedure, the staff welcomed me and made me feel relaxed. The staff was professional and courteous, which helped to relieve some of my anxiety. I asked the anesthesiologist to give me something to counter any potential nausea, which I had encountered in the past when undergoing sedation. I woke up feeling great (no nausea) with only minor pain in my nose. I remember thinking that it only felt like someone had socked me in the face - so it wasn't bad at all. After about another hour of observation, my husband and I went to our hotel where I slept on and off for several more hours. It was actually quite nice. The twilight leaves you with a cozy and relaxed feeling. I did not take any pain meds until later that evening - and even then I only did so to ensure that I did not have pain during the night. At no point did I ever have any substantial pain. The next day I had a short follow-up to make sure I was doing well. I did not have much bleeding and was still only experiencing minor pain. Days 2-3 were the “hard” days in which the swelling increased (as expected). Again, it was not painful, it just felt like I had a really bad head cold. I only took the pain meds because they had a substantial sedative affect that made it easier to sleep. On day 4, the swelling and “head cold” feeling started to disappear. By the time I had my next follow-up on day 5, I was almost feeling normal again. This follow-up allowed me to have the splint taken off and the external stitches removed. I got to see the first results and I was blown away. Even with some swelling still present the difference was amazing. I actually started to cry a little I was so overwhelmed. I had lived with a fat “boxer” nose for 30 years and, after just a one hour procedure and a few days of recovery, it finally looked like a normal nose.