Rhinoplasty

I've decided to document my journey to help others with their journeys through rhinoplasty and also to provide an honest review of the surgeon I chose, Sam Naficy, as well as my advice for getting what you want.

As of now, I am only 1 day post-op and just starting the recovery process. I have no idea what it's going to look like yet, so I'm just writing about everything that's happened so far.



I hated my nose from a pretty young age, and as I got older, I just hated it more and more. It became such a complex for me that it severely impacted my self esteem and daily life. As someone with A.D.D, depression and anxiety, my nose really exacerbated my already low self esteem. The front view of my nose wasn't terrible; it was nicely narrow and fit with my narrow face, but had some defined visible cartilage that I didn't like near the tip, and an overly defined bridge. The profile, however, stuck out way too far from my face, was pointy, and had a hump on the bridge. I do have a weak chin which can further intensify the look of a long or over-projected nose, however I am not a fan of the look of chin implants, which are usually recommended to those of us with recessed or small chins. I do plan on having some minor enhancement to my chin done in Korea, where they have a more feminine and conservative approach, but I was sent a simulation of what a chin implant would look like from Dr. Naficy and I personally didn't like it.



I did research for about 3 years trying to find a doctor whose work I really liked. Without fail, I always came back to Sam Naficy. There was just something beautiful and natural looking to me about his work. I am from Vancouver Island in Canada, but I was willing to fly basically anywhere to make sure I'd be happy with the results. Coincidentally, Dr. Naficy happened to be just a few hours away in Seattle, Washington. Around September of 2016, I contacted the office and started the process of planning my surgery. I sent in front and profile photos and spoke back and forth with one of his lovely receptionists, Diana. We discussed in detail what I wanted changed, and after a few months we decided on the date of January 6th, 2017.



The price was a little over $12,000 USD, which sadly for me as a Canadian was over $16,000. Being only 20 years old, I worked very hard and I had to give up a lot to pay for this surgery.



I travelled to Seattle with my boyfriend. The day before my surgery, I was to meet with Dr. Naficy in person to discuss what I wanted done. When I walked into the office, I was warmly greeted by his super friendly and adorable staff. These women are absolutely lovely! They were very kind and had fun cracking jokes with us, which I really appreciated. When I met Dr. Naficy, I felt that he really listened to what I wanted, and I didn't feel rushed even once throughout the whole consultation, despite my slightly chatty nature and tendency to ask lots of questions. Dr. Naficy was very honest with me about what was and was not attainable, and how what I wanted done would affect my face. I brought in a photo of my nose that I had edited myself to look exactly how I wanted. I am aware that surgery is not witchcraft, and you can only do so much with what you've been given naturally. I wanted my nose drastically shortened, and he was honest about letting me know that if he does that, it can widen my nose. I really didn't want that to happen because I feel that my narrow nose suits my narrow face. He told me that he can try his best to get as close to my ideal photo as possible, but that to prevent too much widening of the nose, he may have to cut around the base of my nose and remove some of the extra skin. I was ok with this.



The nurses went over all the details with me about how to care for it and what to expect, but since I'd researched this topic extensively for years, I was pretty comfortable with the aftercare process.



Here is where I will give some advice: I believe Dr. Naficy is one of the best plastic surgeons out there, HOWEVER, he is not a mind reader. It is very important that you do everything *you* can to make sure he knows what it is that you want! He has mostly stellar reviews, but I have read a few bad reviews about him, most of which didn't post pictures so I can't even be sure that what they are saying is true. In my opinion, a lot of the people who gave him a bad review most likely did not properly communicate what they wanted. Every client walks through his door wanting something different, and plastic surgery cannot give you anything you want, you have to work with what you already have. I brought in printed out photos of my own nose that I had edited. In my opinion, this is the best thing you can do because it is edited from your own nose and already on your face. Bringing in a picture of a celebrity's nose and assuming that A. he can make yours look like that and B. it will suit your face is a mistake. I do not have an expensive program for photo editing and you don't need one either. I just went to an online photo editor and used the morph tool to push around my nose until I liked how it looked, so you can do this too!



In short, what I was looking for was a cute, small, feminine nose, and he seemed to really understand exactly what I wanted. I am not the best at expressing myself, so I feel that the picture I gave him was absolutely key to him being able to visualize what I was looking for.



I will continue updating this + adding photos as I go through the healing stage :)

It's been 3 days since my procedure and I am doing well, but very swollen. The first night, I was in so much pain, and then I became nauseous. I ended up puking up a ton of blood, and up with it came all my pain meds, which explains why I was in so much pain. For some reason, 5 hours after taking the meds, they hadn't dissolved. I guess it had something to do with the blood in my stomach? Anyway, I haven't seen much change in the last 3 days as it's still just the beginning of my recovery. My nose looks wide from the front right now which is definitely swelling, but I'm hoping it won't be wide when the swelling subsides. I liked having a narrow nose from the front, but I did want it just a teeny tiny bit wider for more of a cute look rather than a sharp look, so we will see. My main concern right now is that since he had to do an alar base reduction to be able to shorten my nose without widening it, there will be scars around my nostrils, and currently they are raised. I'm really hoping they flatten out quickly... I'm worried that they are going to stay raised.

It's 11pm on the end of day 5 and I'm in a lot of pain. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and I thought the first day or 2 would be the worst, but I'm still in so much pain. One of the most uncomfortable things is sleeping; since I can't breathe through my nose, I have to breathe through my mouth and it doesn't take long for my mouth and throat to completely dry up. I wake up multiple times throughout the night with a bone-dry tongue and throat and have to reach for water instantly. It ends up making my throat sore as well. But the pain in my nose is the worst. I don't feel that it's much better than the first few days. Even loaded up on oxycodone, I'm still in pain. It tends to be different parts that hurt throughout the day. When I wake up in the morning, it's the actual bone and structure of my nose that hurts, whereas throughout the day it's the sutures/incisions that hurt. My guess is that I'm swelling more in my sleep due to being a bit less vertical and the swelling is putting pressure on my nose causing pain when I wake up, and then during the day, talking causes movement and tugging on my sutures and that's what makes them tender during the day.
I'm still icing my face now and then. Even if it won't help with the swelling anymore, it just feels nice. I didn't bruise very much which is super surprising considering I usually bruise so easily. The swelling has totally fallen from the tops of my cheeks to the bottom of my face, causing jowls. My boyfriend keeps laughing at me because I look like a peanut.