At 48 I had put the self-consciousness of having a large, crooked nose behind me, but I still couldn’t breathe well. I had consulted a couple of ENTs over the years and learned that I had a deviated septum, septal spurs, collapsed nasal valves, enlarged turbinates, and bad allergies. Fearful of surgery, I cut down all the box elder trees around my house, re-homed the cat, and started taking a steroid nasal spray daily. Ten years later and another cat, I decided I needed a surgical treatment. Turns out the dermatology clinic I used was expanding into aesthetic surgery and had recently brought on Dr. Banich - a board certified plastic surgeon with training in otolaryngology. I scheduled a consultation with Dr. Banich in June and am now three months post-op and thrilled with the results. Dr. Banich made me comfortable from our first meeting. Our initial focus was on correcting my obstructed breathing, but as I asked questions about other corrections that could be made, I became more and more interested in a cosmetic procedure too. We settled on an open procedure to correct the septum, then a more involved cosmetic procedure to take down the hump, narrow the bridge, and refine the tip. Dr. Banich had his work cut out for him because I didn’t want to look all that different - same old me with a straighter nose. And because I had lived with the bump on the bridge since childhood, ideally I wanted to keep a small bump. Dr. Banich accepted the challenge, and I couldn’t be happier with the result. I could breathe better from the moment I came out of surgery, and the result is so natural, most people have no idea I had any “work” done. They comment that I look happier. I am happier. I have more energy, and I’m more confident in how I look. If you are bothered by breathing problems or your appearance but think you’re too old for a nose job, reconsider and talk with a surgeon. I highly recommend Dr. Banich.

I have always had a large breast size since I was young. At 31 I now have a DD but very close to a DDD. I decided to get the surgery for the main reasons of back and shoulder pain but I also want to be able to run without having to have 3 sports bras on AND hold them down as well. My back has curved big time to support my large chest and well I'm just done with it. Yea my large breasts look good in an outfit and guys like that but I want smaller! Doc says he will probably take 2 pounds from each. Making me either a full B or a small C. I can live with that! It's one week away now and I'm getting scared. I'm worried of course about the cost, about my husband having to take off work to be with me, and how much pain will I be in. My surgery is on a Friday, will my husband be able to go back to work on Monday until the job is done? (Like 2 or 3 weeks gone type thing) Can I return to everyday mom stuff right away? Biggest is me cleaning the cat box and laundry. I can get my kids to do everything else. I have no support except for him and my younger kids. They would have to go to school. I'm excited to have this done and yes nervous. I don't have to worry about kids as I had to have a hysterectomy last year. I'm nervous that I will look bigger. I gained weight and want to exercise better to lose the weight. I'm scared of the up to 5 hours in surgery. Even a hysterectomy only takes 45 mins! Will post pictures soon, I have to alter them as I have a very distinctive tattoo that i want to erase lol. Updated on 8 Jan 2012: Got some pics updated for the site. I'm just so shocked at the difference. They doctor came back yesterday to tell me they took over 800 ccs from each breast. That's 2 lbs each! He found 3 cysts as well so that's being sent to pathology. This is day 3. I'm tired still and a bit sore. My breasts are perky and don't need a bra! They are TINY. Can't go back now lol. They are still very swollen and hard as rocks but hopefully they will settle in the next couple of weeks. I go back to the doctor tomorrow. He will take the wrap off and check my stitches. I will then be wearing a sports bra. He thinks it's a Full B or small c. Guess i don't remember what that is on me. I kinda jumped from a b to a D when i was growing up. I'm still undecided yet as i want to see the final result. Not a bunch of bruises. Will update every once in awhile til the final result is here! Updated on 21 Feb 2012: ell I tried to post 2 weeks ago but it erased everything :( Hmm so I slept in my recliner for one week. If I laid in my bed all I wanted to do was roll to my side and that hurt a lot. I did okay the first week but by the second my ribs started to hurt. I took the steri strips off at about 12 days. They were starting to fall off anyways and I saw that my skin was closed so off they came. It wasn't as bad as it looked once things closed. I did get woozy every time I looked at my breasts though. Just wasn't a sight that was enjoyable. I did end up doing a lot of housework. My husband left for work 2 days after my surgery so I was the only one to do most of the work. I may have over done it a bit but I don't think too much. Never lifted too much anyways. I continued to be sore mainly with the swelling and stitching until about the 3rd week. At week 2 1/2 I did go in to the doctors for fear that I may have a tag. He said everything looked good and he pulled off the glue that was around my nipples. WEE I had nice pink non freaky nipples lol. I pulled the rest of the glue off at home so that made it a bit better. At 4 weeks I stopped in at the doctors on my birthday. Good news things look good. The tag is gone. But I do have an opening where the 3 corners come together on left side. (pic included). It's healing up pretty good now. The doc gave me a cloth to put on the wound and then Bandaid over that. It's helping. My rib pain was probably from a vein that was cauterized. He said it probably just pooled with blood and that's why it was hurting. At week 6 it's pretty much gone finally. He says it's kinda rare as he's only had like one other person that had weird veins. Oh and I have weird skin lol. It's just the way that it's healing. It's also kinda thin so veins are noticeable around the stitching from being stretched. The cysts that were found were nothing. I go back on March 6th for a 2 month check up because of that open sore but he says all is good. I'm kinda worried about one of my nipples though. It hasn't flattened out like the other one did yet. At almost 6 weeks you'd think it would be done by now. Swelling is gone and I'm still a C :) I'm happy with that size. I still have to lift to see under but it's not so big that they are in the way. I started doing sit ups again and it's so nice when they don't flop to the side. I've been walking at 4mph since week 2 and next week I will be doing a bit more of a faster walk. I don't think I want to try running just yet. I'm not doing any arm strength exercises. I will wait til my next doc appt and then ask about doing that. I will also avoid 10 pounds til then too. I did start sit ups last week though and knee stuff again. As long as i don't strain too much. I've been trying to slowly stretch my sides. It's a bit tight so just daily take a min or so and stretch just straight up. I feel stitching wanting to come out but nothing poking thru. Omg I popped the stitching at 1 month. That was the weirdest feeling. I was rubbing cream to reduce the scars and pop pop pop. But it was sooo much nicer when the stitching area was finally flatter! Got a whole bunch of pics to show my progress. I just now have to hope that the scars fade! With such light skin it will be hard but at this point I can live with it. The surgery cost was just over 14 grand. 7 grand for the surgery itself. 1500 for the night's stay and like 2 grand for anesthesiology. It was also A Grand for my meds! Holy cows what did they give me! After insurance went thru I now owe about 2500 bucks which isn't too bad. I'll try and add pictures next time. Everytime i do everything gets erased.

I had my consultation on 8/12 and we submitted for pre-authorization with my insurance company (Blue cross blue shield). I confirmed with my insurance that it was received on 8/16. Review process can take up to 10 days. Very nervous and excited all at the same time! Will try to schedule surgery ASAP after approval because my insurance changes mid October Updated on 21 Aug 2013: Waiting is so hard..... Anyone else have back pain that got worse after you had your consult. Ugh. Updated on 22 Aug 2013: I'm approved!!!!! Yay!!! I called BCBS to check on my pre auth and they told me I'm approved!! I'm so excited. I have a call into my doctor to see when we can schedule! Updated on 22 Aug 2013: Oh my goodness! They can get me into surgery on tues 8/27, as they just had a cancellation. That would mean viewing before & after pictures tomorrow and pre op appt Monday. Guess we just fast-tracked this whole situation. Updated on 23 Aug 2013: I met with my ps today to see some before & after pictures. Little backwards considering my surgery is already scheduled for Tuesday, but I figured I'd have more time between approval and surgery. Pictures were wonderful. Very natural looking, symmetrical, nicely shaped. Most Picts were only 2 months post op but they looked so good. He said he tries to not do an incision all the way to the sides if possible. Healing is much easier if he just stays under the breast. My mind is totally at ease now after seeing pictures. He will take 550 from each size and I should be a C at least but possibly (hopefully) a D. I told him to be conservative and take out just the 550. The nurse went over my current meds and no issues there. Just no Advil or naproxen. They will not use a surgical bra. They will have me wrapped in an ace bandage instead and will keep that on until my post op appt later next week. I will be staying overnight in the hospital. My surgery will probably start around 1:00 tues. I'm third in line. This weekend will be school shopping, meal planning and hopefully some relaxing. Updated on 24 Aug 2013: I'm looking forward to actually fitting in a swimsuit! No more busting out!! Updated on 26 Aug 2013: I had m pre op visit today and I'm all marked up. Very nervous and excited. I hope I can sleep tonight. Maybe I better download a good book in case I'm up reading instead if sleeping. Updated on 27 Aug 2013: Ugh I didn't sleep a wink! I started watching a tv series on Netflix called scandal! Pretty good! I think I watched 6 episodes! I finally relaxed a but when I saw the main character wearing this beautiful dress that someone with size DDD could never get away with. Not relaxed enough to sleep but I will catch up later today. Updated on 27 Aug 2013: Out of surgery and in my hospital room. I was so worried and nervous all last night and all morning. Wondering what am I doing, am I sure? Yes I was sure. All done now. Procedure lasted about 5 hours and an hour in recovery. I'm sitting in my room with ice packs. One above and one beloe. Pain was about a 5 when I woke up but had some meds and now I'm at a 2 will probably request more soon just so the pain doesn't come back. Ps took about 600 from each side. He had to take a little more so he could safely get me closed up. He said my skin isn't stretchy. Guess that means I'm youthful even though I'm 40. I'm very happy so far. Yay I'm done!!! Updated on 28 Aug 2013: I feel really good. Pain is minimal as I've been taking Percocet every 4 hours to keep the pain low. I'm wrapped in just an ace bandage and I have cleavage even in just that!! I slept like a rock last night. Should be getting out of the hospital around noon. Updated on 29 Aug 2013: On Pinterest I saw how to make ice packs that are similar to the gel ice packs you can buy in the store. Use gallon size freezer bags. Add 3 cups water and 1 cup of rubbing alcohol. I double bagged them. I made two. Use one of your bigger sports bras over top of your surgical bra or ace bandage. Then tuck these ice packs inside the big sports bra! A bag covers each breast perfectly and the bigger sports bra over the top hold them in place.