Okay. So. First off, I am not an easy patient. I was anxious, brusque, and uninformed; all I knew was I had been saving money for a year and hated my nose. I had almost a dozen consultations before I ended up at Dr. Parhiscar. The final one before him, I was resigned to just hire, despite his hyper aggressive manner and really intense sales technique. When I met Dr. Parhiscar... I knew immediately. He is gentle, kind, relatively soft-spoken but confident, and kind of immediately calmed me down. I was and am so impressed as his ability to navigate my high intensity semi-crass approach to this whole "surgery thing", not to mention with a great sense of humor. I'm only a week out from surgery, so I guess there's a possibility things will heal horribly wrong, but so far I'm over the moon with it.
He answered every question during my consultation (including what could go wrong), exactly what he planned and emphasized he focuses on a natural result, and if I wanted a celebrity-style button nose that I should maybe look elsewhere. To be honest, I wasn't super helpful, basically shrugging and saying "I want the hump gone and the tip raised". He was patient and made me feel like I was the only patient in the world. The day of surgery, I didn't really know what to expect, but showed up in comfy clothes and a button-up shirt. I hung out in my gown and a heated heavy blanket (!!!) in the bed in the little curtained room for about an hour and a half (I think?); Dr. Parhiscar came in and we talked briefly - I showed him some pictures I had actually found, and basically nervous chattered for a minute before he patted my arm and reassured me that although it will be a complex job, it would be smooth, and he was ready if I was.
A nurse (I think) and the anesthesiologist came in and told me what he was going to do (...give me anesthesia), and then put some fluids and an IV in my arm, and then they wheeled me down the hall (which was honestly the best part, after the heated blow-up blanket). The second I saw the bright lights of the operating room, I was out. When I woke up, my head hurt really bad. I kind of expected to be numb, but I was in pain - my whole front of my face hurt, and had a migraine. There was a dude nearby kind of checking on me, and I asked for a painkiller. He gave me some goldfish crackers (???) and 2 Tylenol, and reassured me everything in surgery went smoothly. He then told me to text my partner and tell him to pick me up in 20 minutes. Altogether kind of unceremonious but I was also anxious to get home.
Healing... kind of sucks. I intellectually processed "sleeping upright" and "splint" but didn't really think about the practical effects of what that would look like. I bled into the moustache bandage thing (a little hammock holding gauze up to my nostrils and wrapped around my head) pretty frequently, enough to change every 20 minutes for the first couple hours, and then every hour until late that night (around 11ish). I couldn't smell or taste anything at all. I could only drink out of a straw comfortably, which I kind of anticipated. My eyes were bruised, not too bad at first, but those black/blue lines underneath characteristic of a broken bone. He had clearly done a lot of work. I've included pictures at every stage.
When I took off the moustache bandage... I kind of freaked out. Not because of the nose shape or anything, but because there were stitches on my nostrils, in addition to the columella. I DID NOT expect this. I was convinced any scar would be limited to the space in between my nostrils (unseen), but I was furious that it extended all the way around my nostrils!! I freaked out. I emailed the Dr. immediately, included a photo and basically said, I'm pissed! You told me any scarring would be unnoticable!! He pretty much immediately called me, and talked me down cautiously, and I felt bad, albeit still a bit indignant. He said he wasn't worried about scarring, and that he thinks the nose will look great. I wasn't really worried about the nose itself, but there were stitches in a place I didn't anticipate, and that scared me. There is also kind of the aspect of being unconscious, and a dude you've met twice doing an intensely invasive procedure to your face. Anyway, that was my only emotional freakout. I didn't experience/haven't experienced any depression or blues or crisis or anything. I did cover all my mirrors, but that ended up not being necessary.
I've included photos of my improvement and some details. Basically, every day was pretty different. I set up on my couch so I slept nested in the corner, kind of upright/head above my heart, and it was totally fine. I didn't really eat the first 3-4 days except a smoothie here and there, just no appetite and couldn't taste. I sounded like I had a really bad cold because of the congestion (but mostly the splint/cast). The swelling got really bad on Day 2 (as seen in the photos and warned by the doctor), and faded dramatically by Day 4. I didn't really anticipate just how bad the swelling would be for me - I virtually couldn't see out of my left eye and had to listen to podcasts and sleep for a solid 36-48 hours. Additionally, I had this image of my watching Netflix shows and catching up on homework, but I had ice basically glued to my face and eyes for the first 3 days. Almost nonstop - so podcasts were a game changer. I'm glad my partner was there to keep an eye out - I really, really don't recommend going through this alone.
I only needed the painkillers for about 2-3 days, and obviously took the antibiotics the full round (NEVER stop them before they're done!). I got my cast off yesterday. I'm not a very emotional person at all, and didn't expect my reaction, which was to burst into tears. I thanked Dr. Parhiscar over and over. Out of experience I assume, he kept referring to the future tense, saying he thinks it WILL look great, and how it WILL heal. I told him even if the swelling never goes down, I would be elated. It is visually swollen, but not "big", if that makes sense.
I used every single thing I got for my "rhinoplasty kit", even though at the time it felt like overkill. Biotene gel (a lifesaver the first few days with how dry my mouth was), tons of gauze, a pack of silicone straws, cough drops, micellar water and Stridex pads, large pack of Q-tips, scissors, smoothie materials/oatmeal/soup, neck pillow (invaluable tbh), a portable charger for my phone, neosporin, and my nalgene.
I don't know that I would recommend the experience; multiple times this past week I was thinking, how do celebrities do this over and over? This sucks! But if you are committed to the procedure, I'd recommend Dr. Parhiscar a million times over. Getting my cast off wasn't comfortable, but wasn't painful at all. He took a lot of my stitches out, but said the 50 (!!) inside my nose would come out/dissolve on their own and not to worry about them. He seemed glad that I was happy, but he's kind of hard to read, too. Honestly I'm sure he's relieved he only has to deal with me one more time for the post-op in a month.
Updated on 29 Mar 2022:
I’m definitely still healing - asymmetry, stitches, hard to breathe through one nostril - but I am still feeling confident and comfortable. It’s been since Thursday 3/17, and today is Tuesday 3/29. I still have a small crescent where a black eye was (as seen in photos), and some stitches/pinching. But the general shape is there and the before/after difference is obvious. I am still over the moon. Ecstatic. I can’t really breathe out my left nostril, which since day 1 has healed with more difficulty than my right - but I am not worried till I’m told to me. When I made these before and afters and looked at them today (only 10 days post op!!!) I started sobbing. He’s already changed my life.
Updated on 20 Apr 2022:
There's some narrowing that I haven't adjusted to - my breathing is still a bit skewed, and my left nostril is swollen. That side has healed more dramatically this whole time though, I got a gnarly black eye on that side and my eye swelled up to the point where I couldn't see, and it took a million years to be able to breathe even remotely out of that nostril. Regardless, I still can't really catch my breath going uphill. I think it's an adjustment as the swelling goes down.
The biggest and most obvious factor is the asymmetry of the nostrils. My left nostril is lower than my right, and it's become more obvious as it heals. The doctor noticed, and basically said, if it's like that in a few months, we'll fix it, which is reassuring and pretty much what you can expect from any doctor. It's not like they can be like "oh, while you're here, hop under the knife". I believe that he'll make it right in the end, but it is frustrating because recovery was REALLY hard on me, emotionally and physically, and I paid a lot of money for an "even" nose. I don't care if "most people's faces are asymmetrical", I didn't want mine to be. However, it's not distractingly prominent, and overall, I'm ecstatic I finally went through with the procedure.
Updated on 28 Apr 2022:
So, not feeling great. Still can’t breathe very well through either nostril. If I keep my mouth closed I can get air, but not much, and feel out of breath. I went in for my post-op and he said everything looks structurally fine, and we just have to wait (?) but now it’s getting to the point where I don’t know how much longer I can breathe through my mouth 24/7. I emailed a few times and he said to take a decongestant.
The unevenness of the nostrils that’s looking more and more permanent is what’s starting to drive me insane. He said in the post-op that we may have to physically fix it, and said “I know recovery was rough for you”, but I don’t know what that means? Like we have to do a revision? I have to go through that recovery hell again? We can just do something easy? When i look at straight-on selfies of me i want to cry. I told him at the post-op that I’d do it again even if the unevenness didn’t go away, but now that so much of the swelling is gone it’s even more obvious based on nostril size. Overall, I don’t feel reassured, and it’s 3:45 AM and I woke up because I couldn’t get enough air.
Updated on 13 Mar 2023:
I have my revision scheduled for 2 weeks from today. The swelling is down significantly, and most people have no idea I got work done, but the asymmetry is still pretty prominent and my breathing isn't where I'd like it to be. For example, when I tell my close friends I need to get another surgery, they don't ask me "why" - the difference from left to right side of my nose is pretty obvious. That being said, my profile is gorgeous, and if you were to "split" my nose in 2, each half is a great nose on its own ;)
I am trusting Dr. Parhiscar to touch up what needs to be done - the alar base asymmetry, the collapse of the valve, and potentially the lack of supra alar crease that may be a result of rotation of the tip. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Everything I read is basically warning me that revisions are Very Complex And Complicated, so hopefully this one is comparatively smooth. See you on the other side!