Rhinoplasty: Stories

I've wanted a prettier nose for most of my life. I'm 27 now. I've known a few people that have had rhinoplasty but they were not very good (scooped out look, saddle nose) which turned me off to getting one. I wanted subtle changes, I had a very slight hump and a bulbous tip.

On Monday the 17th I went in for surgery. Today I am post op 4 days. My eyes are VERY bruised and my face is VERY swollen. The doctors office said this was on the worse end of the spectrum for swelling and bruising which is disheartening because I wouldn't mind going out in public if my face didn't look so scary. Anyone else experience this? I hope it will resolve when I get my cast off Tues. as I've been avoiding everyone...

Other than that being stuffed up and sleeping propped up is the other worse part.

will update

10/26/11

Had my cast off yesterday. Was a pretty intense whirlwind of emotions. I'm trying to not jump to conclusions because I know I'm very swollen (in the face as well). I'm trying to be patient. I don't love it yet but I can see all the structure is there and I think once the swelling goes down a bit it will be great. I don't understand how some people look great after a week, I still look like a semi hit me! I hope this is helpful for anywhere else going through rhinoplasty recovery. I woke up this morning depressed and freaked out. I haven't told many people because I thought I would recover after a week and go out in public and be fine (naive). I've been hiding from friends because I was hoping I would look normal. Today I told about 4 good friends I was avoiding. They have all been very supportive and want to come over and visit. I'm not sure when I will be ready to "go out"(I usually go out 3+ times a week). It may be another two weeks. I did see two friends last night and they asked my boyfriend if I had gotten something done. So they DID notice. But I think it was more that my face looked strange and puffy than my actual nose.

Physically my nose is pretty stuffy, my bones ache a little bit and the skin on my nose looks so strange. I have a lot of bruising even in my cheeks. I am of greek/syrian jewish/eastern european descent fyi. My nose has a little bit of feeling but not much. I think in a month or two or hopefully even a few weeks I will be very happy for now I'm just trying to be patient. I would love to hear people's comments and similar experiences and to find out when most of their swelling went down and they were able to feel comfortable in public.

Also if anyone was interested in what was done- I had the hump shaved down (you can't even tell the bridge was brought down yet probably from the swelling), the bones were fractured, the cartilage was trimmed, i have spreader grafts and a graft in my tip, the tip was rotated, and the muscle that pulls the tip down was snipped.

I forgot to add, I also had my septum straightened!

12 days post op, nose is still looking very strange but I think the swelling is going down slowly, I can see the progress most when I look at my nostrils. I started taking arnica montana tabs just to see if it will help. I still have uneven swelling. I'm trying to keep myself busy and to not stare in the mirror! I will update with pictures at 3 weeks.

I had my 3 weeks post op yesterday. Everything seems to be healing well. I can pretty much breath although it does get clogged with snot pretty often and I can't blow my nose until 4 weeks. The swelling as gone down a lot, I still have a ways to go though. Overall I'm becoming more and more happy with the results. My doc showed me my nose was actually crooked pre op I had no idea! My right nostril is slowly becoming the same size as my left. Smile isn't normal yet but getting better. the soreness and stiffness gets better everyday too. I have dark brown circles under my eyes that apparently go away gradually up to 6 months or so. Also my skin has broken out horribly from surgery but I'm getting it under control with aha, benzoyl peroxide, and a clarisonic brush. The things they don't tell you about surgery! Also my ears are swollen from being repaired and will also take months to settle.

I had my one month, or rather 5 week post op this tues. I did a lot of flying and traveling the past two weeks and felt like my nose was swollen the whole time. I have some asymmetry with swelling but tonight all of a sudden a lot of the swelling went down and my nostrils look a little more even. I also had a lymphatic drainage massage on tues and it could be due to that (which would be helpful to know). Two weeks ago I went to dinner with my best friend I've known since 2nd grade and my other friend and neither noticed or said anything. I'm liking the new nose a lot as it continues to improve.

I just had my 6 month post op check up. I'm very happy now with the way things are healing/settling. I was pretty worried for months, my nose looked really strange and I had dark circles under my eyes that took a very long time to go away. I feel GREAT and more importantly I feel like I look great. There is slight asymmetry but I think it may have been there before and is just more noticeable to me now. The more the swelling subsides the more everything looks balanced. The initial healing phase- first few months are not fun and I didn't feel like being seen in public, but once you get past that you barely remember how horrible it was, kind of like having the flu. Overall I'm very pleased and wish I had done it sooner but feel I chose the right surgeon.

It's been over a year since my surgery. In retrospect it went by very fast but I would NOT want to go through the healing again (unless I'm deserted tropical island for 3 months). I have slight asymmetry which maybe only be noticeable to me and it's not enough to want fix it, if it even is fixable. Overall I'm still very happy with the result. I feel like me, but a much better version of me.