24, Rhinoplasty in Texas, US

After several years of seriously considering rhinoplasty, I’ve decided to do it. Because of the lack of sufficient and thorough reviews I found online, I have decided to make mine as thorough as possible and give honest and accurate accounts. Reviews tend to be biased – they are either 5 stars or 1-2 stars. I will not give a review I do not feel is warranted. I will try to separate my thoughts on my provider, their staff, my experience, and my results as much as possible, as these are all things that play into a rating.

About me: I’m 24, and this decision was made on the grounds that it wouldn’t be financially irresponsible, as I am not expecting my insurance will cover any part of this surgery. I also did some soul searching and sought counseling to make sure this decision was made with sound reasoning and not because of self-hatred or out of toxic perfectionism - both things I admit I struggled with when I was younger. The one thing I have always wanted to change about myself that I was not able to look past and can’t help but notice is my nose. I have never felt it l was very feminine looking, I have never liked my profile, and this feeling only grew stronger as I reached adulthood instead of fading away with my other insecurities. I am from a family where I do fear that my choice will be criticized. For this reason, I have not disclosed my decision to them. If asked afterwards, I will then disclose that I had surgery. My close friends and partner are wonderful, supportive people who love me, so I am moving forward with this.



After reading up on this type of surgery and how to pick a provider, I decided to look for surgeons in Houston and Dallas because both have reputations for amazing hospitals and plastic surgeons. Another bias working against surgeons and their offices is that social media and publicity play a big part in patient decisions – I’m sure they played a part in mine. There are probably several outstanding rhinoplasty surgeons in Texas that I’ve never heard of. However, I have decided to have consultations with both Dr. Etai Funk in Houston, and Dr. Spencer Cochran in Dallas. I will explain briefly why I chose to have consultations with both in my consultation post/their credentials that led me to them. I will then try to make a decision between them. If I do not feel confident in either one, I will go back to the drawing board and do more research. I have a list of questions below I plan to ask both/all surgeons based on my research.



Please comment if anyone has any wisdom to add.



1. Address my goals – are they realistic? I don’t want to ‘be sold’ on something that won’t work for my face and I want to know if you (my provider) feels I voice any unrealistic expectations given the information you have on me.

Looks: Lack of definition in both bridge and tip, Profile view of my nose droops in my opinion, Overall goals: straightness, symmetry, facial harmony. I don’t want an upturned little piggy or fairy nose because I don’t feel that would go with the rest of my face, but I do want my nose feminized and defined. I want very natural looking results and facial harmony overall.



Function: Can I expect the things I want to change to stay even with normal aging? What about function (As long as I don’t look worse off than before, I’m not willing to sacrifice function to get my desired aesthetic because I’m a runner and breathing well is very important to me). I read from an article by a surgeon that cartilage in the tip is hard to refine and that it will always be larger than before because of scar tissue – is this true? (Not sure when article was written or how credible the surgeon was.)

2. Address costs (ALL) – is it all up front or is financing (CareCredit?) accepted?

Ask about potential: Lab work, medications, exams, consultations, follow up appointments (how many?), fees (surgeon, anesthetic, etc)

3. How often do you perform/how many performed rhinoplasties inside of a year and when was the most recent one?

4. Do you have before and afters of people with similar features to me that I can see that weren’t on your website?

5. I am hoping strongly that this doesn’t come into play but it was suggested to me a smart question to ask: Do you have an idea of what percentage of revisions of your own work you do? What are your policies on revision?

6. Is the procedure done at a state-licensed hospital/medical facility? What is emergency protocol if in a clinic setting?

7. What type of anesthesia is used and why? (I’ve never had surgery besides to remove wisdom teeth and I want alllll the info)

8. What technique (open/closed/etc) will be performed and can you tell me in laymen’s terms why?

9. I want to know: Common risks/complications with rhinoplasty in general, and any risks/complications you foresee specific to me.

10. When could I resume exercise – this is important to me to be able to breathe again normally. When should my sense of smell/taste return if it isn’t there in the days/few weeks following surgery or when should I worry?



I will update with pictures as I go through this process.

The first 3 photos were taken by an iPhone X in natural lighting. The additional 4 photos were taken by an actual DSLR camera in natural lighting. I apologize for my funny stickers - just trying to make it to where you'd have to know me pretty well to recognize me. :)