Rhinoplasty, Open Browlift, Modified Rhytidectomy, Lower Lid Blepharoplasty - Santa Barbara, CA

Yes, I did it all at once. Once I decided to go for it, I hardly thought about it at all. 

I know that it is a lot to do at once, but I figured better to be publicly scary and unacceptable just once. Also, its very difficult for me to take time off. I have had a strange nose since birth, a very deviated septum, never could breathe out of the left side and had some feedback inside my head, kind of echo-ie when I spoke, if you can understand that. But I was used to all of it, and even with the nose I was considered pretty. However now that I am 55, I felt like there were enough things that irritated me that I might as well finally conquer the nose. Bags under my eyes, the beginning of a wattle under my neck, and a sag of my lids.

The nose has actually been the easiest of it. The first day I was extremely nauseous all day from the anesthetic. But no pain. It was impossible to breathe through my nose with the packing, consequently my mouth became extremely dry and filled with bits of mucous while I slept. I highly recommend a humidifier in the room. It didn't hurt when the packing came out. I also recommend buying straws, especially if you can find the bendable kind, because it is very hard to eat. My daughter filled my refrigerator with yummy juices and they kept me going. I really benefitted from her career choice. Thank you to my personal R.N.

The ice on my eyes hurt, until I started letting it sit for a couple of minutes out of freezer. I am sure I have not iced enough. I did four procedures and can honestly say that pain has not been an issue at all. A little itchiness from stitches everywhere, and discomfort because I have a compression garment on my head, but no real pain at all. Regarding the garment, if you are using one for a procedure, download a photo of how it goes on before the surgery. Once I showered, it was impossible to figure out how it went back on until I saw a photo of one online. Regarding showering, I don't know why some people make a big deal about it. My doctor just said to do it normally but to avoid soapy stuff on the stitches. It was easy.

Here are my problems. I am really swollen. I had a lot of stuff down at once. And I can't imaging semi-acceptable any time soon, which is a bummer because I am going to visit my ex-s family in Mexico in two weeks. But we will see.

So, my surgery was a week ago Monday. Ten days in, I actually think that I will be passable in a week when I am in Mexico. I have annoying red bruises that make me look like I have a fu manchu mustache, but I can hide them, although not completely, with make-up. My face is a shade of green and you can see a definite demarcation from forehead to chin where the skin is pink closer to my ears. The bruising is so widespread that it mostly looks like I just have jaundice. And I still have some red spots under my eyes. My cheeks are stiff and I have a couple of really creepy hard bits, but it all goes down daily. With the right make-up, which, since this is the first time in my life that I have used make-up so I don't know what I am doing, I could probably hide most of it and if you didn't know me, might not notice anything. That is saying a lot in a week, since a week ago people were making the paths clear for me as soon as they saw my face, out of pity.

My nose is just changed enough so that I have to get used to a new me in the mirror. I like the nose, but until everything else goes down, I am not sure that I like it on my face. Hard to tell if you like your look when you have chipmunk cheeks and swollen eyes, you know? But the doctor did a good job fixing what had to be fixed on my nose without doing anything drastically alienating. My kids still wanted to look at me and see mommy, even though they are in their twenties.

So far the most pain has been getting the stitches out. I wish that I had a little more attention regarding how to care for all this in the healing stage. Especially the staple area in my head. Now that the staples are out, how should I take care of that area? And anything that will encourage a nicer healing to all of the scars from the stitches? My eyes are tired. Anything to help that? Cucumber slices? I have no idea.

So, I think I am just short of 7 weeks in. You would never be able to tell that I had anything done unless you really looked for it. The stitch line that goes out from the corners of my eyes is red, but I think that, again, if I knew how to apply make-up, I could easily cover it. If I had a complaint it would be that the line on one side goes up and on the other goes down. But they will eventually both fade. My nose is still very swollen inside and is by no means perfectly symmetric if you look at my nostrils from underneath. Still, for the first time in my life, I think my nose is kind of cute. And I am still me. I think the doctor was a little too conservative with my neck, however before I tried to hide it and now I would flaunt it if it wasn't so cold out. I still have some lumpiness on my neck that I can feel but is only noticeable if I show you. I have lots of bumps where the knots from stitches have not dissolved, but again you can feel them but not see them. The bags under my eyes are all but gone. I think this took 10 years off easily. People tell me I look great, but they don't suspect anything. I would do it again for sure. I wish I had done my nose 35 years ago. I went on a vacation at about two and a half weeks, and nobody knew anything.