Rhinoplasty Results Don't Match Projected Outcome Photo

It is far too early to judge your nose at 12 days out from a rhinoplasty. I usually advise my patients that 10-12 days is around the time they can return to work or social situations if they would like to get away with others not knowing they have had surgery. However, your nose will continue to improve and become more refined gradually over the next 12-18 months. Give it some time before you compare your nose to the preoperative imaging.

First of all, I'm sorry to hear that you are disappointed with your surgery outcome. I find it important to inform you that 12 days is a very short time to see the final results of your surgery. It takes about 3-4 months for your nose to completely settle. 12 days is not enough time for your swelling to go down.
Please give yourself some time and do not stress about it just yet.
In some cases when a patient has thick skin, healing may even take up to 12 months. I haven't seen your pictures, therefore, I can't tell your skin thickness or nose structure but if you are still not satisfied with your results after one year I would suggest you discuss your options with your surgeon and maybe consider revision surgery.
At this moment, my advice to you is to be patient and I hope that you will see your desired outcome in 2 -3 months. Best wishes.

Too early to tell results.  Give your nose some time to see how it looks once the swelling settles down.

Results after rhinoplasty surgery take some time to appear normal. The soft tissue sweling often imprairs the ability to see the results of the surgery in the first one or two weeks. Allow several weeks for the swelling to subside and maintain a close relationship with your surgeon to determine the next course of action if you are still unhappy with the nasal profile.

After 12 days, I'm sure you still have significant swelling, so you can't tell what the final result is. You have to give it a few months. The computer is a very powerful tool and can make dramatic changes to a nose that sometimes cannot be duplicated in real life. We always try to approximate an imaging result, but sometimes the skin is too thick, or the cartilage and/or bone needs more support, so we can't duplicate the computer result exactly.
Be sure to address your concerns with your surgeon as the weeks go by and look at your pre-op photos with him to ensure you are getting your points across. Good luck.

Hi Izzy,
It is too early to make any judgments about your nose, and there is not anything to do about it for a few months. You need to share your concerns with your nasal surgeon and listen to his/her comments. Usually after 12 days one has somewhat of an idea of what you may look like, but there will still be a great deal of healing to come.
Photoshop is only as useful as the surgeon who uses the computer imaging. When computer imaging, the surgeon must make changes only to the point where he/she feels that realistically the results can be achieved. The computer imaging should only be used to give both patient and surgeon an idea of possible results; in no way should it be interpreted as a guaranteed result. In my practice computer imaging is very helpful and accurate in profile analysis.
Follow your surgeon's advice and most likely things will turn out well. Revision surgery should not be considered for about 6-12 months after your surgery.
Your question again emphasizes how important it is to choose your rhinoplasty surgeon most carefully before hand, saving yourself worry and anxiety post-operatively.
Good luck and be well.
Dr. P

12 days after a rhinoplasty where tip and profile alteration were done is WAY too early to be concerned. Generally, the rule of thumb is 7-10 days for social acceptability, 1 month until 80% of swelling will be gone, and 9-12 months until 90-100% will be gone. Those numbers may vary a little based on what was done and your skin type. Thicker skin takes longer to heal and redrape aroung the new nasal form.
Asking a doctor to see not only before and after photos but also projections on those same patients is always a good idea. Likely, these photos will not match 100% but will match closely in the overall concept and size relationships.
Try to be patient. If you see profile changes already, then you are going in the right direction. Fullness in the tip and bridge of the nose, as well as a bump at this point are normal and expected.

At twelve days postop with you will be very swollen, especially because you had eyelid and cheek surgery in addition to your nose surgery. Ask you surgeon about a postop taping regimen to help bring the swelling down. It takes nearly a year to get the final results from a nose surgery so be very patient. Because you already see some difference, you will probably see quite a difference at one year. While you are healing you should not have expectations of a certain outcome. And, remember, a simulation on Photoshop is not a guarantee of any outcome. It just gives your surgeon goals to shoot for. Your body's own healing capabilities will affect the final results. I hope he/she told you something to that effect.

Hopefully when the swelling subsides the nose will reflect more of what you had wanted. 12 days after surgery is way too early to judge results!
That being said, doctors are usually careful to use Photoshop type aids as a platform to discuss the surgery, not as a guaranteed outcome. There is usually a written disclosure on the picture itself saying this. If a physician guaranteed a patient would look exactly like the photograph, and you don't, this would be an issue.
Especially with rhinoplasty, the best way to evaluate what your expected outcome is is to analyze the doctor's photographs of patients with similar featurs to yours.
However a postop nose at 12 days usualy looks othing like the nose at 12 months.

Any time you have a rhinoplasty and cheek implant procedure you can have a severe amount of swelling because both procedures cause swelling of the cheeks and around the eyes which can make the bridge of your nose look wider. You are very early out from surgery and need to patient. Go back to your surgeon and express your concerns with him. But don't forget it can take 1 year to see your final result. Best of luck.