Rhinoplasty for a Wide Bridge and Bulbous Tip - Dr Grigoryants - Glendale, CA

Hi, I have wanted rhinoplasty since the age of 10 when my nose suddenly became way too big for the rest of my face. I was told by everyone, even my friends and family that I could have been so pretty if it weren't for my giant nose. As I aged I did grow into it more, but it's still the first thing I see when I look in the mirror and the sole reason why I hate almost every picture of myself. I haven't met with a PS about it yet. I want to get more familiar with this type of surgery and find the wide nose experts out there first. That's what brought me here :)

I found this super cool website where you can change your nose to get an idea of what you would look like post-op. The site is here: http://www.bevhills.com/cosmetic/facetouchup/
I'm having trouble uploading my morphed photo, but here a a few dream noses of mine...

Ok, I figured out how to get the photo to upload, so here are my side by side before and after, as I would fix it if I were a PS :)

So I asked the Docs on here if getting a nose like Minka Kelly was unrealistic and I had a mixture of opinions. Most said yes, one said absolutely no. One was nice enough to give me a picture of what he would do to my nose. I think his morph makes me look like Keira Knightly. I like my nose from the side actually. It is a bit long, but I wouldn't want to shorten as much as this Doc does.

So I sent some close up pics (which I never EVER take thanks to my giant honker) to a PS that I thought did some great work. He actually took the time to do some computer imaging on them to give me an idea of how he would correct my wide bridge and bulky tip. This is by Dr. Steven Denenberg, based out of Omaha, NE. Maybe worth a trip up north! I'm still looking at many other surgeons though. If I've learned anything from talking to experienced rhinoplasty patients, it's to do your homework!!!

Dr. Anil Shah out of Chicago and of course Grigoryants in California. Chicago is much closer so I have a consultation scheduled to meet face to face and see what he can do. I found a cool app that lets you play around with ideas. I decided I want my nose, only all around smaller. Basically a 30% reduced version of what I have. I hope thats possible!!!!

I emailed Dr. G and he got back to me within 2 days. He said he would narrow the bridge, take down the hump, reduce the tip and narrow the nostrils. Exactly what I was thinking! I love his aesthetics so I'm going for the long trip to Glendale. He's so worth it. I am posting some pictures of my nose at different angles so you can get a 3D idea of the proportions. It's quite wide and boxy. The lighting shows off the imperfections better in these pictures I think.

I talked with Zara and scheduled my rhinoplasty for Jan 16th. What a great way to start 2015!

I think it's important to see how faces look with and without makeup. So here is my no makeup submission.

So I am finally almost there! I have one month before my rhinoplasty! I am currently trying to figure out the logistics of my stay in Glendale, as I am not from California. I think I will rent a car, that way I can drive to the beach during my recovery :) I will have to take a cab to the surgery center the morning of my surgery, and I have a nurse picking me up and taking me back to my hotel and staying with me for a few hours. I'm trying to decide on a hotel. I want it to be nice, obviously, but I don't want to spend an extra grand in hotel costs. Any suggestions are welcome! So I am including a picture I found of a nose that isn't a "dream nose" but it looks like a realistic goal for me and would be a huge improvement to my current nose. Also I'm posting a profile that I think is unique and stunning.

Hi again. I'm pretty much obsessed at this point and check real self multiple multiple times a day for new reviews, ideas, recovery tips, etc. I've been waiting my whole life for this, so I'm pretty elated :) As far as my pre-op consult goes, I was going to tell him to use his judgement to give me the best nose possible. I feel that bringing in pictures of other noses is unrealistic. I will ultimately end up with a better version of my own nose, so why bother with talking about how much I love Angelina Jolie's nose? I love Dr G's aesthetics and I think he is a brilliant artist. I trust him to make me gorgeous. Does that sound crazy?

Tired of hiding my nose in photos. I really hopey daughter inherited her daddy's nose ??

Here is the wonderful man who blessed me with this nose. I hope he doesn't get mad when I change it!

Peace out big Italian nose! You look awesome on men, but not so much on the ladies. It's been real :) Ciao!

So I'm starting to get cold feet... What if he makes it too short? What if he rotates the tip too much and I look like a pig? What if I just look like a plain Jane afterwards? I start to think maybe I should back out, maybe messing with my face is too risky. Then I look at this picture and realize whatever he gives me has got to be better than THIS!

So happy to be on the other side!!! :)

I've tried updating with pictures several times but the site won't let me. I'm having pain, swelling and bruising. Trying to get past these rough days ahead. I ended up throwing up a ton of blood last night and felt good for an hour or so afterwards. I think vomiting made the swelling worse though. I'm hanging in there :/

Healing

The bruising isn't that bad after all :). The swelling is setting in forehead, eyes and cheeks. That's to be expected though. I feel like I'm past the worst part of recovery. I have a sensitive stomach and the nausea made me not eat for two whole days, which made me weak and emotional. If I could pass on some advice it would be to eat something when you take your antibiotics and your norco. You won't get nauseous if you eat just a little something with them. I'm On just Tylenol now, but the first two days I needed the Norco. Hope that helps someone else out there. I look so sullen in my photos but I'm actually very happy. I have a wired turtle smile that's pretty creepy, haha.

Making progress!

Here she is! I'm Thrilled!!!!

I was so excited with my results that when Dr G was explaining the taping process I totally didn't hear how long I need to tape. 2 weeks? I can't remember!

I'm Looking like a cartoon character today. A cartoon avatar actually. Time to practice my patience. Did anyone else feel congested all the time after surgery? As soon as I clear my nose out more goop quickly fills back in. I read a ton of reviews where girls could breathe Better post op. Tired of mouth breathing :/

Not much to report today other than I need to do a better job of taping. It looks like a 5 year old did it! I'm sure I'll get lots of practice. I am still waiting for the bruising to totally go away. The swelling in my cheeks is pretty much gone (Yaaay!). I put on makeup for the first time in a whole week! I love makeup :) Man it does wonders! My teeth are still tender and the stitches in my nose are slightly sore, but really not that bad. I'm just thrilled to not be throwing up blood or feel hungover from the Vicodin! I know my nose will change everyday, so here it is today. A little less scary with tape on it.

Someone requested a side by side comparison. Can anyone let me know which collage app is good for a mac? Mine is pretty crappy. Sorry, this is the best I could do.

I need to relearn how to my makeup. I used to play up my eyes to distract from my nose. I put my makeup on exactly the same way and it looks awful.

I am amazed by how much my nose is changing from day to day. It keeps looking better, getting softer and feeling more like my own. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I still have that small bruise under my right eye with some yellow discoloration in my right cheek. The right side of my face has shown more bruising and swelling throughout the healing process. I try covering the bruise with Revlon PhotoReady concealer, but it doesn't make much of a difference. Still using saline spray to clear my nose and then drying/clearing it out more with dry Qtips. Then I slather the inside mucous membranes with a generous amount of vaseline. The vaseline feels soooo good. The incisions at the alar base are healing very well, they are almost unnoticeable already. I'm so happy so far!

My nose was a little less congested today, I'm very excited about that! I am still sporting a bruise under my right eye, but it's finally starting to yellow around the edges. I took these pics right after washing my face, so no makeup, but hey, I have a flowery headband on at least :p. I'm Absolutely in love with my nose. I'm excited to see how it will look in 6 months after it drops and more swelling subsidies. The nostril asymmetry is bugging me a bit to be honest. I wouldn't mind different sizes, but they are completely different shapes as well. It makes my nose look wonky from the front. The profiles are amazing, but that front view is kinda weird. It is still a huge improvement from my former nose so I'm trying not to fixate on it. Plus, after my tip drops a little maybe it won't be so noticeable. Keeping my fingers crossed!

It's hard to capture it in photos so here's a video!

So I've tried to update once a day since surgery so that rhinos in waiting can see a daily progression. The changes have definitely slowed down so I think I will just do a weekly post. I still see a reduction in swelling everyday, but the drastic changes are over I think. Today was great, no pain, minimal congestion and I can see my nostrils are starting to even out! I'm obsessed with picking my nose now, LOL. I'm worse than a 5 year old. I gently swirl Qtips around to keep my nose clear. I hate the feeling of crud in my nose, so needless to say I am Qtipping like every half hour. It's my new fav hobby, haha. I can't thank Dr G enough for what he's done. He worked hard to give me a nose I can love and the peace of mind that comes with it is worth way more than $9500.

Heya! The past 2 weeks have flown by! So much has happened since post op day 1. I feel like I've gone through so much healing that really I should be a month out. The body is amazing! Facial swelling and bruising are totally gone now. My nose swelling fluctuates throughout the day as well as from day to day, with the general trend being a decrease in swelling. It has changed so much from cast removal day. The day my cast was removed I loved it and each day it becomes more refined, more natural looking and softer. I love it more and more everyday. My worst nightmare would be having my old nose back! Some advice that was given to me that I would like to relay to future rhinos would be to look at the positive changes you see on cast removal day and focus on that instead of obsessing over the negatives which are temporary anyway, such as swelling and loss of your smile. I am getting my smile back slowly, but I'm not quite there yet. When my cast came off I had a creepy smile and I looked like a chipmunk avatar cartoon character, but all I cared about was I had a thinner nose that had a beautiful slope. Anyway, I hope that helps someone out there! I included pictures with different lighting to try and show the shape more.

It's been a little over 3 weeks now. I've had lots of emails from girls who are either considering Dr. G or who are about to actually go into surgery with him. Many are asking for more front shot pictures so I tried to include those. As a former wide nose lady I understand the frustration of seeing gallery after gallery of profile photos! I have to say, before surgery I was happy with my profile and I didn't really think it needed any work. I was only concerned with the width of the front view. I trusted Dr. G to do his thing and not only did he give me a better looking nose from the front, but he also gave me a profile that I am IN LOVE with. I didn't expect to feel that way and it is amazing. For the girls who are nervous about your surgeries this week, rest assured that you are in excellent hands. You are going to like what you see. You have to be patient and give your face time to recover properly, but very soon you will be very happy. Now get some sleep! :)

How awesome that my one month mark falls on Valentines Day! It's kind of appropriate really. The last thing Dr G said to me before I was wheeled back in to surgery was that he was gong to "turn my Roman nose into a Romantic nose". Pretty clever! I'd say he hit the mark. Although I am totally in love with my nose and I can't stop taking selfless (I think I have a problem) I wanted to address the issue of post-op remorse/dissatisfaction. I know many other realselfers have opened up about this and I never have. It doesn't mean I haven't also felt that way from time to time, I just try to keep this post positive for future rhinos. It is a very real part of the process though and it's something everyone should expect. I spent the first week saying to myself "what have I DONE?!!!" It was the support of you all that turned me around and made me start to appreciate the positives. It all started with comments about not having horrible bruising or swelling, then about how great it looks at just 9 days post op (when looking back I looked awful!) - so thank you all. I still have my moments where I look in the mirror and I have negative thoughts, but I try to squelch them immediately and find something positive to focus on. It feels good to feel beautiful for the first time in my life. I still have awkward photo angles that I try to avoid, and I still look horrid without makeup, but I choose to focus on the improvements I see. I see a LOT of improvement. This journey has taught me a lot about self love and acceptance. I hope this dose of reality doesn't bring anyone down because really I just want to point out that everyone deals with self criticism, and it's a challenge to force yourself out of that bad habit, but worth the effort! Thanks for everyone's support throughout my process, it has meant so much to me!

I finally found a user friendly app that allows me to make some good comparisons. I think before my nose was fixed it looked like I was a boxer who had her nose punched a few too many times. It was wide and smooshed against my face and sort of had a downward angle to it. It was hideous. Ugh. I hate even looking at pictures of it. I hated my old nose so much that even though my new nose isn't perfect, I fully embrace it and adore it because it is a HUGE improvement from what I started with. HUGE!!!!
Also, I started working out. The first day after my one month mark I just did some mild cardio. I did break a sweat, but I kept myself from going crazy. I could feel my nose throbbing, that's when I took the workout down a few notches. I have all the time in the world to stay in shape, but these first few months are the only time I get to heal properly. At least, that's my take on it. I also did some weight lifting and kept it at a gentle level. You'll know what I mean when you start to feel your nose tingle and throb. I took that as a sign to chill out more. Also I should note that when I was done working out I looked in the mirror and my nose was SO swollen. It went back down by the end of the day, but just know it is likely to happen to you too.
Someone else asked me what it is that I don't like about my nose. I don't want to give the impression that I don't like it because I do, very much actually. It is just from time to time I get these irrational thoughts in my head… I'll think I look like a skeleton (crazy, I know), or I'll think that it is still really wide and huge. All I need to do is look at a picture of my old nose to squelch those thoughts. Also, I still have "bad" camera angles. Not all of my pictures turn out great. I'll post some for you to see. I'm also posting a picture of how I wear my glasses so that they aren't touching my nose. It works well!