Rhinoplasty: Stories

So, I've been thinking about getting my nose fixed probably since high school but I was always too scared. I'm a big wimp about pain :)

I finally decided to look into it again after seeing some really unflattering pictures. My nose seems to look worse in pictures than in real life and i do kinda like my nose bump and I can't imagine how I will look without it.

I have broken my nose 2-3 times. It is slightly crooked, to the left, and I have a large dorsal hump and a somewhat boxy tip.

I went to see Dr. Golden two weeks ago for my first consult. It went well and the pictures he showed me of his other patients were beautiful. He is kinda all over the place though. He said that he would have to break my nose, make it straight, file down my hump and de-boxify my tip. I also have a slightly bifid tip (like a cleft) and he said that would be gone too.

I have ordered my vitamin C, probiotics and arnica montana from his list of stuff I need but I am going to try and get out of taking the antibiotics he prescribes his patients because they make me sick and I really dont want to be throwing up and feverish right after someone carves up my face.

He also is doing a closed rhinoplasty and only does closed. I hear this is better for healing.

I am very excited and nervous and don't know how I'm going to concentrate on anything else for the next almost three weeks!!

I will be back and update when more stuff happens.

I'm nervous about if i will have packing, if i will remember anything during twilight sedation and about taking antibiotics. I hate taking them and some doctors say they aren't necessary but Dr. Golden says he prescribes them. Any input would be appreciated :)

I had my pre-op appointment today. Dr. Golden sat with me and talked about my surgery. We went over my photos very carefully and he pointed out some slight differences in the size/shape of my nostrils between the left and right side of my face and even pointed out that my right upper lip is slightly fuller than my left upper lip. or maybe it's my left that's fuller...anyway, it's very subtle but the point was so i don't start hyper-analying my nose after the surgery and freaking out if i see little differences, that i fully understand my starting point. he then showed me what he was going to do, as far as the tip refinement and bump reduction and we talked about the nose break and straightening process. he SWORE to me that i woudln't remember a thing because i am very freaked out about him taking a little hammer and chisel to my nose. THis better be the truth because i DO NOT want that memory floating around in my head for the rest of my life!
I asked him if he was going to scoop it out at all and he said no. i mentioned i ready something about the scoop being better for women but he took his pen and showed me on the picture what it would look like if he did and i agreed it would be a little too much gone for my face.
he showed me a little from a patient who was freaking out about her swelling for a few months and was writing to say how much she loved her nose after 11 months and assured me that i would be very bruised and very swollen for some time and told me not to wig out about it.
i filled my three prescriptions (vicodin, bactrim and nasal ointment) and ive started taking my probiotics and arnica montana a few days ago. i have to start putting the ointment on my nose tonight. I will not have packing in my nose but he still insists i take the antibiotics and told me to call if i have even a mild allergic reaction because then he will have to give me some kind of steroid pack or something.
I am so so so so so nervous; every time i think about it my stomach seriously drops!
but i am excited to have a new look. Dr is very confident i will have a lovely result and be happy with it.

ah! i can't believe it's happening like 30 hours from now!!! how will i ever sleep!

he showed me a LETTER from another patient, not a little. sorry for stupid typos, im nervous!!

oh yeah, he also said my nostrils wil be a little smaller due to the changes he is making and assured me that i will not have a piggy type nose after this. also that the little box or 'ball' at the end of my nose will be gone and my nose will have more of an almond or rounded type shape. sorry for all the updates but i want to get everything written down so that i don't forget.

So..i did it!! I am very happy so far. everything went very well. One slight bad when the IV came out of my arm at some point so I was conscious and aware of them breaking my nose. It sounded like a pounding sound and i could feel the pressure and was saying "no, no, no" but other than slight head pain with each thump, i was still pretty out of it but noticed my arm hurt a TON and was fidgeting to try and alleviate whatever was hurting it, something about the IV, im not sure . My mouth was as dry as it ever has been after and it felt like forever until I could take a drink. I felt no nausea after the sedation and even was able to stand up and move around on my own in the recovery room, even thought they didnt want me to. so, shhhhhh ;) THe nurses still insisted on helping me to the bathroom twice after ( I have mini bladder despite having not had anything to drink in over 12 hours at this point) and they wheeled me out to my parents' car and made me promise no driving today. I want to go somewhere but i look like a freak and would probably frighten people.
I am changing my nose gauze pretty often as i am still bleeding from nostrils. I can't tell how it will look other than what i can see of hte tip which is swollen but definitely different and on it's way to cute-ness , i believe.
So far, I am casted, and gauzed up under my nose. I slept most of the afternoon, but now I'm awake and feeling great! I'm starting to get some bruising around my eyes and cheeks and its driving me nuts when my nose itches and there's nothing i can do about it.
OKay, trying to figure out how I can come up with a cup of coffee..
I will post pics soon, I took a couple today but I dont think anyone's ready to see all this..

went back to dr. today. no more gauze but cast until tuesday. i still feel pretty good but my activity is very limited. my face blew up big time today but my shower seemed to help. dr said i'd swell even more tomorrow, then it'd start getting better. i can already see how different it is!! it looks really cute!! so far, so good...

here's some pics from the day after. today i will take some, my cheeks are all swollen for some reason now. not attractive!

cast off today!! i love my nose!!!! it's so adorable!!!! my cheeks are still swollen and my nose is swelled up but i can see a remarkable difference!!! i will post the tape pics now and get some more pics this week after i take off the tape, i ran myself a little too hard today and feel hot and exhausted this evening and more swollen so sit tight and i will update. yay!! i can't believe this is how i look now!!

11 days out and i feel really good! my nose is still slightly numb and kinda stuffy and i stil get a little tired when i do to much. i did go to the gym the other day and did 22 min on the elliptical before i started feeling like all hot and sleepy, not like normal work out hot, like doing too much after you've been sick hot. i really want to run again. i run little bits to see, i still have a little pressure in my nose and i don't want to shake anything loose. not sure if that's possible. anyone start running within 2 weeks? when can i run again? i have another follow up next tuesday and i will ask, but i hope i'm running by then. Good thing i have a huge home renovation project going that keeps me pretty busy, or i'd be climbing the walls!!

Three weeks out today. I feel great. Ive bumped my nose a couple times and that makes it a little sore, but otherwise it just feels a little stiff. i've noticed significant reduction in the tip this past week, but it will still seem to swell a little at the end of the day, especially when ive done too much stuff. (im in the middle of a huge remodel at my house, so been doing all the work i can handle)
all of my bruising has been gone for about a week, the stuffiness is almost gone, some little stuffiness persists but i think that's more due to allergies and the amount of dust flying around my house.
so far, i still love my nose and am happy i did it.

Ok, sorry it has been awhile. I'm still in the midst of a total house makeover/clean out.
Everything is still going well. Havent seen the doctor in a few weeks; after my last appt he said i was done, as long as i continued to heal so well.
I still love my nose and notice it continuing to get smaller. I too can feel a couple slight bumps underneath the bridge skin but i cant see them in photos. my tip is still a little numb and maybe a little swollen and my nose is still kinda stuffy. This seems to have gotten worse in the past couple weeks again with all this weird weather (it's kicking my allergies in to high gear) plus with all the dust flying around my house.
I have definitely bumped it a couple times and it seems to have held up.
I was scared i was going to get a polybeak deformity because my tip hasnt gone down as much as the rest of my nose, but it seems to be going down more with time.
overall, still happy.

a little over 2 months out and all is well. i still see my nose getting a little more refined and i still love the way it looks. a few people who have known me for years do not notice anything, even when i tell them, they swear it looks the same as before, so i feel that i have a natural looking result that simply enhances my face rather than changes it, so, for that, i am pleased.
the tip of my nose is still slightly numb, but way better than before. i can wear sunglasses without tape now ( thank god because i was getting all kind of strange looks..) but i dont wear them too long or they bother me a little, esp the bigger ones. if im in the car driving for awhile, i stil may tape them, though.
i have posted another pic (sorry, at an 80s theme party this time, lots of costume events this year , it seems)
i am still around and still doing great, just havent been on a lot due to being so busy doing some home renovations.

I've been slacking on my updates! Everything is going well, my nose is still getting a little smaller at the tip and it is still a touch numb at the tippy tip and sometimes my big sunglasses are too heavy feeling, if I wear them for awhile, but everything is good. I am still very happy with my nose. Sometimes I get like runny or stuffy nose, but I have some allergies and i think my nose is still a little more sensitive. I can still feel some bumpy-ness when i touch my nose, but it doesnt seem to look bumpy in real life or pictures, I'm thinking its maybe some residual scar tissue or somethin, because it has been less and less.
I will get some more pics, when I'm dressed and look nice (right now i'm in workout clothes)
I am still so glad I did it and I feel a lot more confident, especially when taking pictures, pictures seemed to highlight the worst in my nose before.
I am going on a trip next month and I'm sure I will have lots of pics to post, and I have heard that my nose skin will be very sensitive for the first year or so to the sun , so i'm planning on being very diligent with the sunblock!

Well, more than six months out and I still continue to see changes, especially around the tip of my nose. One of my friends who I had only seen sporadically over hte past couple months said she noticed a really big change recently when I saw her. It's harder for me because I see myself everyday, but i definitely do see decrease in size of the tip, and the feeling/sensation is pretty much back to normal. I really love it, I'm so glad. Someone who I met gave me the compliment of how he loves my nose, that i i have an adorable nose, definitely a new compliment for me! :)

Still loving my nose, although i see the slightest bump and it's not quite as swoopy as when it was still healing. I'll post pics!