BUTCHERED! I hate my new nose!

I believe it is VITAL to understand that rhinoplasty is followed by a long healing process and everyone heals differently due to different surgical procedures, bone structure, thickness of the skin, etc. It usually takes around 12 months to see true results and it is definitely an emotional rollercoaster. Some days you think, “Ooookay...things are improving, I’m excited for the end results.” And other days you wake up swollen, thinking “I don’t know about this. Am I even healing? Did I ruin my face?”
But stay calm, patience truly is key, along with understanding everyone’s healing process is extremely different.
I feel it’s important to share my updates because during my pre-op research, I saw barely any ethnic rhinoplasty post op review pictures from patients or any updates regarding their healing process. Also it is extremely difficult to find a surgeon who specializes in ethnic rhinoplasty’s in California (oddly), but I was really blessed to find Dr. Tsai and see his amazing results with other ethnic rhinoplasty’s.
I’ve seen a lot of patient reviews 6 weeks post op and they’re out partying and taking cute pics (lol) and while my healing process is not at that level yet, I am confident my end results, rather it be in 6 months or 12 months, will be amazing. So hopefully I will too feel confident enough to post a cute post op pic of me living my best life within the next few weeks : )

As of today, I am 6 weeks post op and have posted my progress photos (front & side) from week 1-5.
I had my splint taken off on June 26th (1 week post op) and my 1 month post op appointment on July 22nd.
During my 1 month post op appointment, Dr. Tsai gave me a steroid shot to help decrease swelling (I still have a little, esp on the right side of my face) and he instructed me to just be patient and wait for my swelling to go down which is when I will begin to start seeing some of the results. He said the majority of his patients are extremely happy and start seeing true results at 6 months. I do trust Dr. Tsai, which is why I chose him, so hopefully I will be a part of that majority.
Currently I am extremely concerned about the thickness + crooked-ness of my tip & bridge of my nose, and mostly my nostrils because they are extremely uneven, and prior to surgery that was not an issue (my left nostril is a lot smaller than the right nostril and my Collumella is slight more to the left side now). I am hoping this is due to swelling, but I have been taking a photo each week and haven’t seen any positive changes, which is very concerning.
I will discuss this with Dr. Tsai during my 2 month post op appointment on July 19 and post updated photos over the next few weeks at that time so you guys can see my 2 month progress, which hopefully is much better .
I know it’s only been 6 weeks but my nostrils are causing me a lot of depression and making me extremely insecure. Before my surgery, everyone told me “Don’t do it, you’re beautiful and your nose is perfect. You don’t want to ruin your face.” And now every person I have seen (without a mask - only benefit of COVID), points out how uneven my nostrils are and keeps saying I will need to have a revision. I really hope that is not the case because it took me time to save up for this surgery and I don’t have the money for a revision, esp after losing my job to COVID last week.
Fingers crossed ????, positive thoughts & prayers up !

Today was the worst congestion and swelling wise. I felt like I could barely breathe all day and my splint was extremely tight due to the swelling, which left me with a horrible headache.
I haven’t taken any photos this weekwhich I wish I had, but I did take a few snaps on SnapChat so I might share those.
I think I will wait to begin taking pictures once my cast comes off in 3 days (6/26/2020), because that’s when I can really track progress.