Rhinoplasty: Stories

I had surgery on Oct 18th to remove my dorsal hump. I had my cast removed on the 25th. It already looks a lot better from the side - has a slight curve the way I wanted.

However, I don't like it from the front yet. It looks very fat, especially at the tip. I'm sure it's just swollen so I'll have to wait for it to go down. Will update when it does.

I'm still very stuffy and have developed some weird bumps on the inside of my nose - does anyone else have this? My doctor must have seen them when he took off the cast, but he didn't say anything so I guess it's nothing bad. I think I'll call him again just to ask though.

The day of surgery, I wasn't nervous at all. I don't know why, maybe it just hadn't hit me yet. In the operating room, they tried to put the IV in, but apparently my veins are so delicate that 3 different people kept trying and after half an hour still couldn't get it in. Thank god I don't mind needles, cause I got stabbed 10 times. Eventually they used a children's needle and it worked. After that, I don't remember much. I woke up in a room where my mom was waiting with me, and I was spitting out a lot of blood. I think the doctor came in to explain that the surgery took 3 hours, a lot longer than he had planned, but I don't remember why. Maybe my nose was just really complicated? I was still very groggy from the anesthesia, so the whole thing is a blur. My mom took me home, where I slept a lot for the rest of the day (in a recliner).

The first week of recovery, I wasn't in a lot of pain, just very uncomfortable - my nose was completely clogged, and the cast felt tight. The tightness also went down my whole face, so I had to take some painkillers because my teeth hurt pretty bad. The first 2 days I also had to change the dressing a lot because I was bleeding that much. I had trouble sleeping at night because I had to breathe through my mouth which got VERY dry, so I woke up every hour dying of thirst. The bruising in my face actually wasn't that bad, it was worse on my arms from all the needles. I don't know if it was because I was sitting up so much or because of the Arnica I was taking. I ate a lot of soft foods since it was hard to chew - my upper lip was rather stiff, and it was uncomfortable to smile.

Day 8 I got the cast off and could finally go out in public again! I had no bruising left at all, which surprised me because I usually bruise very easily. Maybe Arnica really does work? My doctor cleaned out my nose which was uncomfortable but didn't hurt too much. He used this acetone-based stuff to dissolve the tape and lift off the cast though, which made me really dizzy. I was pretty out of it while I was lying in that chair, so I forgot to ask him a whole bunch of questions I had. When he showed me my new nose in the mirror, it was surreal. I think it STILL hadn't hit me!

Now on Day 14 I'm almost back to normal as far as social life goes. My friends say it's not a huge difference, but then again it's still very swollen at the tip. From the front, it actually looks bigger than it did before, which worries me. I honestly don't know if/how much work my doctor did on the tip - something I should know, but every time I talked to him I was groggy from some drugs/chemicals!

I know I should be sleeping on my back, but I really can't. My whole life I've been sleeping on the side and the last few nights where I've tried to stick it out on my back, I couldn't get any sleep. I finally decided that it's probably more important to get rest, so I gave in and turned. My nose isn't touching the pillow, but it does feel weird, like it's just hanging there. I hope this doesn't cause any problems.

Now I'm just trying to be patient and wait for the swelling to go down because I'm not completely happy with it yet. It already looks a LOT better from the side because the bump is gone, but from the front it looks worse than before, like a pig's snout. I'm hoping that my doctor refined the tip and it'll go back to normal soon. I won't be back in town to see him though for another 6 weeks, so I guess I'll go back for a post-op visit at 2 months.