30 Years Old - Successful septorhinoplasty with turbinate reduction

I'm turning 30 this year, recently moved to Pittsburgh and getting married in 2015 to a wonderful guy who thinks I'm beautiful just the way I am. No one knows I'm considering rhinoplasty though I've been self-conscious of my nose since I was a teenager. As a child, I was clumsy, constantly falling and bumping my nose into things. In elementary school, a basketball flew into my face and I think broke my nose though no one took me to the hospital to get it checked out. As I got older, it grew more and more crooked. Fortunately I was spared the relentless teasing a lot of other people experience. I only had to field the occasional comment about whether my nose had been broken or would I ever consider plastic surgery. I guess I've been lucky that people have been generally tactful, however despite what other people's perceptions are, I'm constantly aware of my prominent nose. I'm nervous in job interviews and when meeting new people. My confidence is suffering more and more because of it. I have a bump, deviated septum so my nose curves to the side, and a large bulbous tip. Overall, my nose is too big for my face. As a yoga practitioner, I'm very aware that I don't breathe equally through both of my nostrils and I know I breathe loudly at night. I have chronic allergic rhinitis, congestion and sinus headaches which I'm hoping this surgery can alleviate.

I have done a lot of research and scheduled 3 upcoming consultations with well-qualified surgeons in Pittsburgh. I'm nervous about telling my family and my fiance that I'm planning to do this this year. It sounds silly, but I've always been known as the one in my family who doesn't care much about appearances, not into fashion or make-up- I'm the hippy, nature-loving, yoga-practicing vegetarian of the family. I used to think plastic surgery was a shallow or insecure thing to do- now after finding the RealSelf community, I've come to realize that that's completely wrong, plastic surgery is for people just like me. It's not about being superficial, but correcting something that isn't how it's supposed to be which can change your life in so many positive and beneficial ways. I realize how silly it sounds that I was afraid that taking this step would ruin my 'image' of being 'someone who doesn't care about images'. This is not the nose nature intended and there's nothing wrong with taking steps to correct it.

Everyone has the right to feel confident and beautiful, especially on their wedding day. Now is the right time for me. I'm in a transition period as I approach my wedding and my 30s, I'm ready for a change and I'm hoping a new nose will help me go forward in my career and have the confidence to make new friends.

Of course I have plenty of reservations - what if things go wrong? What if the outcome is worse than the nose I have now? What if I permanently lose my smile that most people say is my best feature? Is this is an insane amount of money to spend on myself when I'm of very limited resources, my car is ancient and falling apart, and I have a wedding to pay for? I can scrape together the money for an initial septo-rhinoplasty, but a revision rhinoplasty would be beyond my means.

Despite these concerns, I'm eagerly awaiting my consultations and I know in my heart this is something I want and need and those close to me will understand once I break the news!

Nothing much new to report except I did tell my fiance this week that I was considering having this done. It went about as well as I expected, he told me there was NO WAY I was going to change my nose because he loves my nose just the way it is and there is nothing wrong with it. He never even noticed it was crooked! Could it be that all this time he's known me, especially the TWO years we've lived together where he's surely seen my nose from every possible angle, that he never noticed anything was off about it? I'm sure I scrutinize my schnoz more than anyone around me, but it's an objective fact that my nose deviates to the side and it's glaringly obvious when talking to me or seeing me in photos. Then again, love is blind and he did put a ring on my finger with this nose on my face so presumably he was willing to take the whole package on an as-is basis.

He said that I can't change it because it's MY nose. I have a hard time understanding this logic because any nose that I would have in the future would still be MY nose, I'm not going to all of a sudden have someone else's nose, just an improved version of my own nose. Also, the nose I have now is probably not the nose I would have had had it not experienced all that trauma in my youth. If nothing had ever interfered with it, I would likely have inherited my dad's nose - large, but straight.

I am not deterred because I know he will come around, he's open-minded and supportive, it will just take him a little while to get used to the idea. Next time I bring it up I will be armed with computer generated images of my potentially new nose!

I had my first consult today with Dr. Leong and he is as wonderful as all the reviews say. We had a huge snowstorm hit this morning, so getting to the appointment was extremely stressful, none of the roads were plowed and I barely made it out of my street, but I got there right on time at 8:15. Because of the weather, he was running a bit behind and I had to wait about a half hour to see him, but it was well worth it since he spent a good hour and a half with me. He made me feel very comfortable and he was extremely thorough, went into great detail about the anatomy of the nose and different techniques and options for rhinoplasty. He took a lot of pictures, which was probably the most nerve-wracking part since those are the angles those of us with bad noses AVOID like the plague, but it was a necessary evil. He also did a thorough exam of the interior of my nose. The initial consult was a $100 charge and all follow ups after that, prior to the surgery, are free. So I scheduled a follow up for a month from now which gives me plenty of time to mull things over. At that appointment, he will go into more detail about the surgery and the specific refinements he will make to my nose since I have a couple of options there. At that point he will also print out my pictures and show me what the potential results could look like. I'm really happy with his before/after pictures as his results are very natural and never look 'done'.

Also found out that my septum is not that deviated and isn't really causing most of the crookedness to my nose. That was pretty surprising and also means this is more of a cosmetic than functional rhinoplasty and therefore pursuing the insurance angle might not be a worthwhile option. The cost of the surgery is more than the budget I originally set, so for this to be feasible, I will need to finance it, probably for 12-24 months. I plan on applying for the Care Credit card once I've made my final decision.

My fiance is being really supportive. The only thing he's hesitant about (and with good reason) is the cost, since we have our wedding to pay for. He asked me if I just wanted to wait until after the wedding for the surgery but I told him there is just no way this nose will be joining us in matrimony. His reply, which was perfect: "It can be your something new!" Yep, he's pretty much the best fiance ever.

I still have my consults with the other two surgeons coming up in the next couple weeks, so until then I will do my best to not spend every waking moment obsessing about this. :)