Rhinoplasty: Stories

I'm 40 and have lived with a nose that I have never loved. Overall I'm a pretty confident guy but as far as I can remember many people have commented on my nose being big which has made me feel self conscious. Whenever I see a picture of myself I am always drawn to see how my nose appears.

Earlier this year I began developing quite a few sinus infections and I finally went to a doctor to be treated for them. She recommended a sinus CT which indicated a large deviated septum. She referred me to an ENT/plastic surgeon for a consultation. He has a great reputation in my area. After an exam/endoscopy he recommended a septoplasty along with a few other procedures to improve my breathing. He also noted that I must have broken my nose as a child which has caused the deviation of my nose as you can see in the pictures. I asked if a rhinoplasty could be covered by my health insurance company. He said it wouldn't but he said he could definitely improve the look of my nose. That sparked my interest. He did the computer morphology of what my nose will look like after surgery. I loved what I saw. I figured that since he was going to do a septoplasty which would include rebreaking my nose, I might as well go for the whole rhinoplasty at the same time.

I have told a few people and they all said that I don't need a rhinoplasty as 'that's how you look' or 'you look great'. I'm not doing this for them rather I'm doing it for myself and to make myself happier about my appearance.

My surgery is scheduled for Friday December 21, 2012. I went for my pre-op physical last week and had a follow up with my doctor/surgeon that same day. He gave me scripts for antibiotics(pre and post surgery ones), pain med, anti nausea, and a steroid.

I'm getting excited as well as the normal anxiety of having surgery. Overall I'm excited.

Once I have the surgery I'll post more pics and updates on my recovery. I enjoyed reading others situations and it has helped me. I hope my story can help someone with their decision with getting a septoplasty/rhinoplasty.

6 days till by surgery. A few days ago I started taking Augmentin 875-125 MG which I need to take for 10 days prior to the surgery. Today I started the Methylprednisone 4 MG Dose Pack for the next 6 days. I'm also take Allegra. I have a different oral antibiotic to take after the surgery.

With 6 days to go I'm feeling the normal feelings that everyone seems to be saying...anxious, nervous, hoping the surgeon does a good job and my nose looks better once it heals etc.

I'll post pictures once I have the surgery showing my progress.

Hi all,
I had the surgery yesterday 12-21-12. I had about 5 different procedures performed. 4 of them were medically necessary and covered by my insurance. They were the septoplasty, turbinate repair, and a couple of other things to improve my breathing. THe 5th procedure was the rhinoplasty. They used general anesthesia and I was in the operating room under the knife for 4 hours. Recovery was about 1.5 hours. My face was quite numb the whole rest of the day and night. The second day is a little better and just slightly numb. My doctor did a very good job with the nerve blocks. The 1st day I really wasn't in too much discomfort but the 2nd day I was since the numbness was wearing off. I had no nausea or vomiting. Today I feel quite a bit of pressure all over my face and I have a very bad headache. I'm taking an antibiotic and Percocet 5mg/325mg. I feel quite drained too. This was quite a surgery. I added some pictures for you all to see. I highly recommend ICE ICE ICE. That makes me feel really good when the swelling goes down.

Day 3 (definitely read if you are a eye glass wearer!!)

Wow!!! Rough night!! The headache I've had is sooo bad. I'm really grumpy and depressed feeling. I'll admit (I"m a guy) I even teared up a few times because I was just feeling so down. BUT around 3pm I discovered that the arms of my glasses were digging into my head too much and that was probably causing the headache to intensify. I taped some padding(just regular facial tissue) to the part around my ears and it sure helped!!! My headache is still there but not as bad I tried to put my contacts in yesterday but my eyes swelled up a little too much so I took them out.

I tried to anticipate a rough recovery but no one really knows how they will react till they are into it full fledge.

I have tubes inside my nostrils and can breath out of them but I'm trying not to and just breath out of my mouth. My wife woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me I was breathing out of my nose and should stop as the MD recommended mouth breathing.

Eating it not easy to want to do. I am forcing myself to eat. I have my mom and wife asking me quite often to eat which helps with the motivation.

Day 4.5

Still taking pain medication every 4 hours, antibiotic every 8 hours, icing cheeks every 2-3 hours for 20 minutes, cleaning nostrils every 6 hours or so. I'm surprised how much the fluid that builds up in my cheeks cause so much discomfort in my jaws due to the weight. ICE ICE ICE :) Each day feels much much better but last night I had another horrible headache that lasted about 2 hours. Someone said they maybe caffeine deprived and I think maybe that was my problem so I drank coke and a cup of coffee. Its hard to know what helped...that or the pain medication that I took at the same time. I just know caffeine withdrawal causes headaches. My upper lip is still numb so I can't give anyone a real smile yet. :)

2 days till surgeon followup but I already know he will clean up my nose, take out internal splints/tubes but keep on the external splint for a 2nd week because he wants my nose to heal straight. I'm ok with that. The whole purpose of this surgery was to have a positive result...I'll do what ever it takes to accomplish that.

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Day 6...Went back to surgeon for removal of internal splints/tubes, external splint and sutures. I made sure I took a Percocet an hour prior to my appointment because I sure needed it. My surgery was more invasive than a rhinoplasty. Not to take away from anyone else's surgery but he explained my surgery was more extensive than 95% of the surgeries he normally performs and he described what he did by removed a large deviated septum spur, re-sculptured and implanted it in the other nostril for support and did a few grafts. He said once he got into my nose he realized it was a 'mess'.

I can describe everything he did today as 'annoying and uncomfortable' feeling with very brief moments of pain which went away. The removal of the external cast was not painful at all. He cleaned out the inside of my nostrils which remain quite 'raw' and uncomfortable. He recommended home usage of Simple Saline and gave me another external cast to use at night or during times of possible exposure to my active children (age 4 months and 6 years old) and to not hold my infant for another 2 weeks (which is SO hard to not do). My infant daughter hasn't recognized me or smiled at me for the past week which has been emotionally tough but when I got home without the splint for the first thing she did was give me the most wonderful smile like she saw her 'daddy' again!! (bringing me tears of joy). My 6 year old was adorable and said 'you look great daddy and you can barely tell you had a cast on'.

I will post pictures tomorrow but my nose is swollen but I see a few benefits already
1. I can breath out of both nostrils due to correction of deviated septum
2. No more dorsal bump
3. A thinner and non ball like tip which I HATED prior to the surgery
4. A much straighter nose looking up at the nostrils from below. The doctor's computer morphology projected pics were deal on with reality of what he was able to accomplish

Low expectations are probably key to happiness since it can take months for the swelling to go down but I can definitely see a difference. He said it can take up to 2 years to regain total feeling in the area and up to a year for all swelling to go away. I admit it is strange to look at myself and see that I do look different. Even though it is what I wanted I kind of miss the old nose since it was 'me' for so many years (I'm 40). My wife likes how I look(she had a glowing smile when the external cast was removed) but says I'm different which she said isn't a bad thing but she loved me how I looked before the surgery. Looking at myself was definitely an emotional change I wasn't prepared for but that will decrease with time.

What I wanted and expected out of this procedure was to breath better, have less sinus infections and to get rid of the superficial dislikes I had about my nose. My nose will not change my personality or life for the whole. I will hopefully just like the way the nose looks more in pictures and to what I see in the mirror and not for anyone except myself.

Physically I feel much better than the first few days but still feel the lingering annoying headache and nasal area pain/soreness. I still can't feel my upper lip or nose and can't produce the great smile I'm known for. (not to sound conceded) Once I can smile normally again I know I'll really feel like myself again.

Please feel free to ask me any questions and I hope to answer properly. I've learned that it's good to ask people who have already gone through the experience questions and not rely on those that haven't. I guess a good generalized way of doing things in life anyway. :) I'm far from an expert but I can share my experience for what it's worth.

If you want this surgery...do it for yourself and not to please others!!! :)

Hi all(Happy New Years :) )...no updated pics I really want to share due to lots of swelling. The inside of my nostrils is full of dried blood and still tender. Not a pretty site :). My smile isn't yet. I'm still 50% numb from upper lip to top of nose. Muscles just don't want to work properly yet. :( I had NO idea my smile would be effected after the surgery. Anyways..hanging in there like everyone else. Still just 12 days.

I went back to my surgeon today for a follow up. He is also an ENT. I had like 6 questions for him about my recovery and he answered them all. I just had concerns because last week I developed a nasty funky smell and taste from my nose. He said that is normal and just dried blood/mucus and not an infection like I had been thinking it was. He numbed my nostrils and then vacuumed my nose and sinuses clean. I could breath so much better now that all that is gone. I just wonder if it will return. My turbinates are quite inflamed from the reduction surgery so my nasal passages are limited. He recommended some light compression exercises on the sides of my bridge to make them thinner. After just doing that lightly at my office for 30 seconds I developed some under the eyes swelling and bruising. Ohhh great!! LOL Just what I wanted. We discussed my lacking smile and said that is normal since he had to suture my nostrils. He said my smile will return but doesn't know how long it will take. :( He said he is happy with my results and I just have to give it time for the swelling to go down. He doesn't recommend anymore icing of the nose(nothing after 3 days after surgery) or steroid injections. He explained that the body needs to work at its own rate to produce the best effects. Speeding up the process artificially isn't beneficial. I guess the 'artificial' plastic surgery was enough LOL!! That sure wasn't natural. :) He has me going back in 10 days...I forget to ask for what...but I like going back to see him since I usually have questions. Oh...and no pics to post because one I don't see any real change since cast removal (and if anything ..more swelling) and two..I caused more swelling with my bridge exercises.

I just came back from a follow up visit with ENT Surgeon. He said my nose looks 'great' and right on track. He said my nose will 'shrink wrap' over time as the swelling goes down. He vacuumed out my nostrils and sinuses. He recommended now using 2 new products.

1. Ponaris to the nose with Q-Tips 3x/day (I had to order on Amazon for $13)
2. Acive Sinus Saline Rince with 1/4-1/2 teaspoon baby shampoo 1-2x/day (he gave me a box that should last me a month or 2)..it seems similar to Neilmed Pot

My smile is slowly coming back but I have to say that I was never told by the doctor that I would lose my smile and I never read about it so when it happened to me it was a total shock. I suggested to my doctor today that he should be telling his patients that this will happen so the know what to expect. He said he agrees and will put that in his pre-op care package.

While we all wait for our swelling to go down I have learned from others to look at the few positive things as a result of our surgeries. For me I was quite snorer prior to my surgery and my ENT surgeon had said that I wouldn't snore anymore after the surgery. At the time I didn't know if I should believe him or not. Well I'm happy to say that my wife says I no longer snore after my surgery. That is a win-win for both of us. :) Before my surgery I would wake BOTH of us up with my snoring. A restful night's sleep is very important. I am very thankful for that. :)

At my 4 week follow up my doctor said it was ok to use Biore strips to remove black heads. It really worked out nicely.

1 month...I am reluctantly adding my 1 month pics today but I feel its just fair for others to see my progress as that is one reason why we are all on RS. I still have a lot of swelling. I notice a few positive changes(straighter nose from septoplasty, I can breath better, less of a dorsal hump) but the main change I wanted which was my frontal to be thinner will have to wait a few more months till the swelling to go down. I'm not self conscious about it though. What ever it looks like I'll deal with it. I still have a suture inside my nostril toward the tip. My surgeon wants it in there a few more weeks to stabilize the septoplasty. There is not much I can do at this point but wait for the swelling to go down. My smile isn't 100% yet. I'm limited due to a pulling feeling from my nose which causes a nagging ache when I smile too much.

I'm reposting my 1 month Post Op pics but this time I cropped more so more can be seen :)

Hi everyone. I just went for my 2 month follow up with my surgeon. I told him about the constant soreness on the sides of my nose and he said that's normal and fine due to the amount of work he did on my nose. He said I have lots of healing to go and everything looks the way they should and no problems. I also expressed how I don't see much of a change yet (even thought there is) but not like I kind of expected. He said that there IS change and I don't want a HUGE change too fast. He said the body is doing what it is suppose to do and if it 'shrink wrapped' too fast the thin skin I have would look bad and I would be very unhappy. He said not to worry and I'll be happy in like a year (uggg) This is important for all the people on RS to read since quite a few of us aren't happy yet. He said in month 3 he will inject my nose in 2 spots with a steroid to help with the swelling but its too early for that at this point. Overall I'm still not sure if this was worth it due to the amount of money, downtime and pain I have gone through.

I AM happy that I no longer snore which means my wife is happier and I'm probably getting a more restful nights sleep. I'm happy the dorsal hump is much improved. I'm happy and very appreciative that I didn't have any complications (which is always possible with surgery). I'm happy I don't look worse and no one comments on my nose like..'what did you do to your nose!!'. LOL I am also very happy that my smile is about 90% back to normal which was something that I hated losing post op. I'm known for my warm smile and that is what people did comment on.

I will take and post pictures next week.

Today I went back to my ENT surgeon for a follow up. He injected the tip of my nose in 4 spots and 1 toward the tip of my right nostril with a steroid. I still have a lot of swelling at the tip and he said that at this point I am ready for a steroid injection and would benefit from it. He said any earlier wouldn't be good and could cause 'shrink wrapping' of the skin. I haven't updated my pics due to lack of change (or not enough to be happy with).

I totally forgot that one of the reasons for always wanting a rhinoplasty was because how I never liked how my nose looked especially when wearing my prescription glasses. That is why I have been wearing contacts since I was 13.

Today I woke up with a sty on lower eyelid and forced to wear my glasses and I honestly can say for the FIRST time that I actually won't mind the way I look with my glasses on :). I feel quite confident!! :) What a great feeling this is!