Rhinoplasty: Stories

I've been lurking here for months, reading reviews and posting the very occasional comment but I have read and appreciated each and every review. Since I got so much out of it I felt I should share my experience as well.

I have had a big, hooked nose since highschool. Other than my family I haven't really been made fun of for it (nice family, huh?) but I'm sure that aside from my height (I'm 6' tall!) that's the first thing that people notice about me, and it probably affects my relationships and my career. I find I am very confident with people I know, however I'm reserved meeting new people.

I have posted a before/digital after that the Dr did for me. We also discussed a chin implant and at first I was going to go ahead with it because it did make a huge improvement on my profile simulation, but after reading up on chin implats I decided that I wasn't comfortable with it. For some reason I feel comfortable having a dr open up my nose and bash it into a different shape, but I'm not comfortable with having a foreign item placed on my chin. I also learned that it's a relatively easy procedure that can be done under local, so if I decide after the fact that I want it I can have a seperate procedure (I also think I'd need some scuplting or something done. Until my consultation I didn't realize I had such a weak and DOUBLE chin!)

My surgery is scheduled for Feb 13th, a week from today! I'm nervously excited about it.

Today is the day! I have to be there by 9:25, my surgery is scheduled for 11:25. I'm very nervous as this is my first time ever going under anesthesia and I'm freaked out by people saying how they vomitted blood after waking up. There is nothing I hate more than throwing up.

I had no problems sleeping last night because I asked my Dr for an ambien but I had a bad dream that I woke up during the surgery, and then he forgot to put the cast on my nose but I didn't realize it until I got home. Those dreams didn't help my nerves much ;).

I'm done and home. My biggest fear was the nausea and I didn't have any at all! I did share my concerns with the anesthesiologist and they said that the type they use has a very low risk. I can't rembmber if they gave me anything extra for it.

One thing I did have waking up that most people don't is pain. The nurses managed it well though. I still have a bit of pain but nothing that will keep me up at night (I am taking my hydrocodone as allowed). I am bleeding fairly freely, but that is expected. I was told to ice 20 min on and 20 min off while awake. That has already become a chore!

I am very hungry, I had some jello when I got home and am having (no salt added) chicken noodle soup for dinner.

Not much bruising or swelling at this point, I'm sure it will come! I've uploaded a photo that I took while I was changing back into my street clothes.

Despite being on vicodin, last night I was in pretty bad pain. I'm not sure what the cause of it was, but laying in bed in the dark I was sure I could feel the internal splints digging deeper and deeper into my flesh. BUT, when I woke up at 2am to take more meds the pain suddenly went away and hasn't been back since. I've just been more uncomfortable as other people describe.

Today I am swollen and the bruising has come out. My eyes are watering non-stop. I'm not really up for anything other than laying around snoozing and watching tv!

So far if there was one thing I couldn't have lived without it was my neck pillow. I use it constantly!

Well today is my 2nd full day after surgery. I don't have a large amount of bruising, but my face is ridiculously swollen. I still have swelling around my eyes and it has also moved down into my cheeks. My upper lip is also swollen and pretty much immobile. My front teeth are sore today so I suspect that a lot of pressure was placed on them during the surgery.

I started cleaning out my nose/nostrils today as directed. I tried to do it yesterday but almost fainted so I gave it an extra day. It is disturbing to look up my nostrils because what I think is my septum is so swollen it is almost closing off my nasal passages. I sure hope that's normal!

I have stopped taking the vicodin and am just taking Tylenol now. I don't have much pain aside from a low-grade persistent headache. When I close my eyes to rest I also can feel my pulse in my nose. It doesn't hurt, but it is a weird feeling.

I had a shower today and washed my hair. It was a bit tricky, but worth it!

Today is the 4th full day since surgery. Not to much to report from yesterday or today. I feel fine, pretty much no bruising but I'm still swollen in my upper lips and cheeks. I have jowls like Droopy Dog. I'm not sure why I'm still so swollen, I'm sleeping elevated, taking bromelain and arnica and avoiding salt. I guess I'm just unlucky with swelling.

It was a beautiful day in california so I spent a lot of it outside with my dogs and I may have overdone it a bit puttering around the yard because I have a headache tonight. Some tylenol seems to be kicking in though.

I'm not very itchy under the cast during the day but at night it drives me CRAZY. My cast comes off on Tuesday and I'm really nervous about that. It will only be 6 days from surgery, which seems early to me! I'm probably the only person who wants to keep it on longer than required.

Tomorrow I'm back working, but I get to work from home for the week. I'm glad because I'm not ready to been seen in public yet! I just hope I don't sound too weird on the phone.

The cast removal today went smoothly but not without pain. The cast itself came off easy, the stitches hurt a little but it was bearable and despite all of my worries the internal splint removal was quick and relatively painless (but oh my, they are large!) For me the painful part was that I had swelling in my nostrils along the septum which he though was a hematoma so he had to numb it (ouch!) and then slice it open and suction it out (ouch!) But he said it's nothing to worry about, just needs more time to heal.

For the nose itself, I'm very happy with how it looks. It is exactly what we had talked about and what he had simulated for me. It's still very swollen, especially around the bridge.

I had a horrible headache after my appt, but I took some pain meds and that took care of it :)

It's been 10 days since surgery and I'm overall happy with my nose even though there seems to still be a significant amount of swelling. The profile looks good to me, aside fr. I am worried about some weird nostril action I have going on though. They are extremely uneven and it is obvious when you look at me straight on. I'm assuming (hoping!!) this is due to uneven swelling. My tip is stil very swollen and sore.

I am still limiting the sodium in my diet to no more than 500mg/day but I'm getting SO sick of tasteless food. Even with limited activity I've lost 5lbs since starting this adventure, but that could be in part due to not drinking wine for the past month. Speaking of wine, I do plan to have some tonight and I'm a bit worried about what it may do to my nose! I hope my nostrils don't become MORE uneven!