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Rhinoplasty and Recovery (updated photos) - Tel Aviv, Israel

So let's begin with why I even decided to get...

  • 5 Apr 2012

So let's begin with why I even decided to get a nose job. I have at some point around 7th grade realized that my nose wasn't as cute as the other little girls' noses. My nose had a bump, a somewhat droopie tip (that I have not even payed too much attention to, I just wanted the bump to go away), a deviated septum and an enlarge columella. It's actually not as bad as it sounds, I was only really unhappy with the way I looked in profile. That didn't stop me from perusing a career, dating or what have you, but all this time I just thought I could be happier with myself and the way I looked if only I had a different nose. I researched the subject thoroughly and met up with 2 surgeons before making my decision. Finally yesterday came and my boyfriend drove me to Atidim medical center in Tel Aviv to get it done. This was my first time getting a surgical procedure and the first time for me to get hospitalized. You can only imagine how nervous I was! I met up with my surgeon twice before surgery- first time for consult and a digital morph, second time for him to examine my blood tests and see I was fit for surgery. On the day of the surgery I met with the surgeon again for him to have me sign some papers. I also met with the anesthesiologist, who explained some things to me about total anesthesia. When the nurse came to get me I wasn't even sure I was being taken to the actual surgery, I was really confused. In hindsight "could you come into this super cold room, lie down on this uncomfortable bed and let the anesthesiologist pump stuff inside your vein" should have given me a clue. Next thing I know- I woke up and was seeing double, I was post op and very cold after being in the cold operation room for an hour without moving. The nurses pumped liquids into my vein as I was dehydrated already, and put bags of frozen peas on my eyes to minimize swelling. My boyfriend stayed with me until the evening. I stayed in the hospital overnight. I didn't sleep very well, though the hospital was a very nice one. I tried to keep my head elevated but after I finally fell asleep for 30 minutes I woke up with my head facing right. I was discharged in the morning, after being given instructions for the week until the splint is taken off. * Day one post op- Despite the nurses best attempt, I have quite a shiner around me left eye. Swelling is not too bad. I am trying to keep myself hydrated. Surprisingly- I'm not in any pain, just general discomfort: my nose is dripping and I can't wash my hair.

* Day 2- I think swelling is going down around my...

  • 6 Apr 2012
* Day 2- I think swelling is going down around my left eye. Half my upper jaw and my upper lip feel numb.
I have actually slept well tonight, which is a very good thing. While I was in the hospital I couldn't fall asleep and when I finally did I woke up from my own snoring.
I try to eat an egg a day to get my protein from. I'm also still on antibiotics, which is one of my least favorite parts of recovery, alongside mouth breathing.
I will post some pictures later, when there's actually something to see.

* Day 3- I have a bit of a headache today. The...

  • 7 Apr 2012
* Day 3- I have a bit of a headache today. The dark marks under my eyes are becoming less noticeable- they changed color from purple to yellow. Swelling seems to have migrated from my eyes to my cheeks (thanks, gravity).
I seem to be coughing up a lot of blood and mucous (sorry if that's tmi) and it's really uncomfortable, not to mention gross. Does anyone know when it's supposed to stop?

* Day 4- I didn't sleep well tonight, I kept...

  • 8 Apr 2012
* Day 4- I didn't sleep well tonight, I kept waking up because I felt my nose dripping.
My cheeks are still slightly swollen, but I no longer look like a hamster.
I was really grossed out yesterday by my hair. It seemed greasy and dirty. I used some dry shampoo on it but it does not work as well as real shampoo, I can't wait till I can wash my hair again :)
I uploaded a before photo along with the digital morph the doctor did, so you could see what the goals of this surgery were.
Also, the skin is very oily now. The doc warned me about this and said it's perfectly natural to have oily skin after surgery, and that it's important to clean the face frequently. At what point will my skin return to normal?

* Day 5- I'm really excited to get my splint...

  • 9 Apr 2012
* Day 5- I'm really excited to get my splint removed tomorrow. I will be so relieved once I can breath trough my nose again. I know that after removing the splint and tampons, my surgeon will put hard bandaids where my bump used to be, and I'm supposed to take them off after a few days.
I slept so well tonight.... I can't wait till' tomorrow!

Splint removal day is the best day:) Hurray!...

  • 10 Apr 2012
Splint removal day is the best day:)
Hurray! Splint came off today. A friend of mine gave me a scare about the removal of the tampons, but it was all a breeze.
My nose is still swollen but you can tell that it's very harmonious with the rest of the face.
When I came out of the doctors office my mom went like "are you sure you had surgery? it looks like you were born with it". Isn't that the best way to compliment a PS's work?
I will post pics later.

I am uploading some photos from yesterday. It...

  • 11 Apr 2012
I am uploading some photos from yesterday. It feels so nice to be able to breath again!

I'm now 10 days post op. I still am not allowed to...

  • 14 Apr 2012
I'm now 10 days post op. I still am not allowed to blow my nose, I only clean my nose with q-tips dipped in 3% peroxide, to avoid having the gross smell people often complain about after Rhinoplasty. My results look natural, even though swelling is slightly uneven on both sides of the nose. The profile is so cute! I never before imagined I could look better in profile than from the front.
Since I can't blow my nose but am highly allergic to dust the whole not being able to blow my nose bit has been hard on me. I have contacted my doctor about this and he said it's OK to try and blow my nose by blocking one nostril and blowing gently through the other.
So far people have not noticed a significant change in my appearance. I will upload more photos later.

I have only now gotten around to posting photos...

  • 27 Apr 2012
I have only now gotten around to posting photos from my 2 weeks post op mark. I have spoken with the doc about the smell that's coming out of my nose. He said it's bacteria that's stuck to the place where the turbines were, and that there's nothing to do except clean clean clean, so that's what I'm doing.
A work friend have told me that she cannot recall how I looked before the surgery, so that's a good sign.
I still have a lot of swelling, especially in the tip area, and I feel it's uneven. I hope it will even out over the recovery period.

I am now 2 months post-op. The nose looks very...

  • 5 Jun 2012
I am now 2 months post-op. The nose looks very natural. Most people don't even notice I've had anything done. The smell is now gone, I think it was caused by packing residue that stayed inside my nose after the cast was removed. It came out after cleaning and blowing my nose regularly. I only hope that there are no more foreign objects stuck up there :)
I updated with a few photos from a few days ago.
I have noticed it is still uncomfortable for me to wear sunglasses on my nose, so I try to avoid doing that as much as possible.

Great review?

My Doctor: Dr. H. Ashkenazi

My rating:

Doctor's Bedside Manner
Answered My Questions
After Care Follow-Up
Time Spent With Me
Phone or Email Responsiveness
Staff Professionalism & Courtesy
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Dr. Ashkenazi is very detail oriented and committed to his profession. He has over 30 years experience in the field of Rhinoplasty and is confident in his skills to perform most procedures with the closed approach. He strives to achieve natural results.

Comments (36)

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I live in the uk and I am considering having rhinoplasty in israel. I 'm usually very good at researching subjects, but my search for good surgeons for rhinoplasty in Israel are getting nowhere as I cannot find any English written recommendations (which is no surprise of course) as I do not speak hebrew. Can anyone recommend a website/forum to look at? Or is there any obvious choice of specialist rhinoplasty surgeons in that everyone knows off? I'm even struggling to get an idea of costs. The reason for my choice of Israel is because I am assuming it will be cheaper than the uk. Maybe it isn't .
Any advise will be helpful.
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Hi, well, I can only really recommend my surgeon- Dr. Ashkenazi, since he is the only surgeon I had experience with.
The costs vary but are usually around 9000 nis- 15000 nis (2500$- 4000$). When you consider a surgeon- make sure he is a part of the Israeli Society of Plastic Surgeons- that means that he was trained to be a plastic surgeon and is not some other sort of medical doctor who also does surgery (that sort of thing happens). You can check here on this website- http://www.plasticsurgery.org.il , there is there a list of names that you can check.
In my personal opinion, Israel is not the first place I'd go for the purpose of medical tourism. I do not know about the costs in the UK, but if price is a big issue then consider the cost of flights and also your stay (again, Israel is not cheap).
I hope I helped and if I remember something more, I'll post it.
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Your answer has just approved what I said previously regarding rhinoplasty surgeons in Israel.The two supposedly good revision surgeons you listed,are in a big doubt.Let's say Dr.Aisch is somewhat an obtion,however,the mere fact that he doesn't live in Israel and only comes here once or twice a year is a big minus.But what I am really trying to say is that the fact that you listed namely this french surgeon,indicates something about our local professionals,or to be precise,the lack of them.The second surgeon you listed,is not even a plastic surgeon,he is not a member of Israeli Association of Plastic Surgery,he is an ENT.However,as it comes,it does not prevent him from operating.I would like to add something regarding that Dr.Kriechly.As I've been researching everywhere,I have found a rhinoplasty forum where I found a women who was going to have a rhinoplasty surgery with him,that was ofcourse before she knew he had no license for plastic surgery.She told me that she had consultation with Kriechely and the conditions he was setting were absolutely absurd.She was told to pay all that huge sum in cash(40000 shek),there was no agreement had place!!!Can you imagine?No freaking agreement!Not to mention the fact that that women was constantly hurried up by his assistent Diana to agree to the surgery.Afterwards,that same women,has accidently found Kriechely's former patient whos nose was ruined by him.She then canceled the operation and later on found more patients of him with failed results.By the way,all the comments she tryed to leave on that site,were deleted by the "mysterious" human.I also tryed to warn people by leaving comment that claimed that Krychely Avraam has no lisence for doing plastic surgery,but they all were deleted as well.Moreover,they even blocked me.The funniest thing,is that on that site all of the recommendations and dialogues claiming how good and magical doctor Kriechely is,are led by his piar person.I made another research and found no bad reviews at all on Israeli forums,all of them are being deleted.However,on some unknown forum i did found a review of an israeli women this time who also told about her bad experience with Kriechely and the thing that made me so angry is that she also was ignored after the surgery with her complaints.What long story i wrote her....In cocnlusion,there are no revision professionals here in Israel and that is a very sad and devaststing fact.
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Since previous comments were deleted,please answer me again in english this time.
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Right. What I said was that Dr. Ashkenazi only performs revision Rhinoplasty on patients that he performed primary surgery on. I think it's pretty logical of him to not want or be able to correct other people's misdoings, especially since rhinoplasty surgeries are only a part of his practice.
Concerning doctors who only specialize in rhinoplasty and rhinoplasty revision, I have read good things abut Dr. Kriechly and Dr. Aisch (he is a French surgeon who also operates in Israel).
About deformations- they are inevitable as all tissue in the body gets older. Even perfectly natural noses that have never been operated on grow bigger and droopier as the person ages. With good rhinoplasty that gives the nose a good support, those natural deformations are harmonious looking and will look ordinary, as opposed to rhinoplasty that is poorly performed, that will leave the nose under the constant threat of collapse.
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Your nose is looking fantastic!
I am uncomfortable with sunglasses too...they seem to leave marks that last for at least 2 days and they feel unusually heavy. I am exactly 2 months post op today :) I don't think my nose is looking much different that at 1 month...oh well.
Hope you are pleased with your cute nose :)
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Looks great, congratulations!
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Thanks for sharing your story! You look great! When you get time do you mind posting some updated ones? I'd love to see it again since it's been a month or so. I'm glad it went well. congrats!
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Looking amazing!!!!! thanks for posting more pictures :)
How are you liking your new nose?
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Oh and I am at 3 weeks and the swelling has improved a lot over just the last week! I also had uneven swelling along the sides of my nose which has seemed to resolve itself :) hope your doing great and the smell goes away soon xoxo
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I really love my nose :)
I am now at 3 weeks post op (the photos are a little old) and there is still swelling. Some days more and some days less, I'm told the fluctuation in swelling is normal so I shouldn't worry.
The smell is a little frustrating. I can't smell it 90% of the time (perhaps I have gotten used to it), so I have to ask my boyfriend which is a little inconvenient, but he is being a good sport :)
xoxo
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You and your new nose look adorable! It looks very natural.
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I love your tip...I kinda wish my PS had lifted mine a little more...
i too want to blow my nose!! I am day 9 and actually can breathe about 80%...also cleaning a few times a day. In the shower I try to breathe water into my nose and gently breathe it out...it helps. xoxo
Isn't feeling better about your profile such a relief? :))
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Very natural and beautiful result . Congrats :)
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