Septoplasty + Rhinoplasty

I have had a love/hate relationship with my nose since I was about 14. I have always valued "natural" beauty. Something inside me just didn't want to be "altered". However, my nose has been a source of really distressing self-confidence issues, and so many avoided photographs. I have wanted to change the appearance of my nose, and had intended to, but other family needs have taken precedence. I finally reached the point where my intention and ability to commit intersected and here I am!

Went to surgery center in Tarzana. The staff was awesome. Met briefly with the anesthesiologist & Dr. Grigoryants to go over the nose goals. I don't remember whole lot from day 1 - anesthesia side effect. Came out of surgery and had dark bruising show up within a couple hours. Absolutely ice your face. It's hard to position ice packs of any type. I found wetting and freezing dish towels/washcloths the most helpful. If you're like me, you'll go home with a hard cast and a "mustache" dressing (a piece of gauze suspended under your nose, attached by tape to both cheeks). I had a lot of bleeding and seepage, so I needed to change the mustache dressing hourly. When I took the dressing off, a splint on each side of my septum (inside my nose) was visible, as well as a plastic strut under my columnella. There were black and clear stitches visible, as well as some taping of my tip. I had alar rim reduction, as well, so there were small vertical cuts with clear sutures visible. I found that the mustache dressing gauze would actually dry stuck to my nose, or the tape, which is really painful, so I recommend buying Aquaphor, taking a dollop and smoothing it across your nostrils and upper lip whenever you change the dressing. The Aquaphor keeps your nostrils soft, the inside of your nose moist, and believe me it pays when you have everything removed.

Absolutely take your pain meds, around the clock - along with your antibiotics - for the first two or three days. I'm a champ with pain, and even though the "pain" was low/mod, the discomfort was incredible. I really blew up day 2 - the swelling and bruising was completely disfiguring. I slept upright, iced and pounded Arnica, but I was really surprised at how horrible I felt. Still had quite a bit of bleeding. Day 2 swelling was under eyes, high up on my cheeks, and at my radix/glabella. My glabella was the most sensitive part of my face - touching it immediately gave me a headache. Drink a lot of water & stay away from heavy foods (breads), no spicy food (dilates your blood vessels and encourages bleeding), and take it easy/avoid salty foods (increases fluid retention). My energy was super-low and I felt soooo congested. Get some soothing cough drops (nothing with mint fumes - it will make you feel like choking and will burn) like the herbal Ricolas. You will have been incubated, and will likely have a sore throat. On top of that, you'll have zero nose breathing ability and mouth breathing at night makes for a very dry mouth/throat. At night, I kept a bottled water (you need bendy straws too), pain med, antibiotic, cough drops, and Biotene dry mouth spray (at drug store in toothpaste aisle) at my bedside. It can be hard to remember you med/antibiotic times, so set an alarm on your phone for every 4 hours and take them every time it goes off.

Day 2, I looked frightening. As the day wore on, my bruising grew and darkened. Felt like my undereye lids were going to burst. I put Aquaphor on everything that was swollen - I feel it helped my skin as it ballooned - skin feels scarily taut otherwise - and it kept my skin feeling elastic as it was shrinking back down.

Don't look at yourself day 2 and think you see any part of the final result. Ignore the way you look and focus on making yourself comfortable. Your upper lip will be functioning weird also - if you attempt a smile, you'll look like the Joker from Batman.