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POSTED UNDER Asian Rhinoplasty REVIEWS

Asian Male Rhinoplasty on Thick Skin. Rib Graft, DCF and Alar Base Reduction. - Beverly Hills, CA

ORIGINAL POST

On January 26th, I had my primary rhinoplasty with...

disclosure91
$15,750
On January 26th, I had my primary rhinoplasty with Dr. Yoo. He was the 6th surgeon that I consulted within the past 2 years but left the best impression on me after our skype consultation. Coming into this, I didn't have any large expectations. The nose that I was born with did not really suit my face that well and I was just hoping for some improvement.

The day before surgery
I had an early pre-op appointment where I sat down and spoke with his assistant Cynthia about the pre-operative and post-operative duties. Later that day I sat down with Dr. Yoo for my pre-op so that he could discuss what he wanted to do with my nose. He morphed my nose into what he believe was possible for my nose but because of the limitations of computer imaging, the profile and the base were the only things that could be enhanced. This was just about the same answer from every surgeon I consulted with and its true that you can only morph pixels so much. I enjoyed the look of the new profile and the enhanced base of my nose but was deathly afraid of alar base reductions due to the fact that I am not a fan of small nostrils on a man. I have always been a fan of larger, elongated nostrils but I pulled the trigger and took the plunge because it seemed necessary to what I wanted to achieve.

The day of the surgery
I woke up at 8:00AM and was to arrive at the surgery center at 10AM. I arrived and started dressing for surgery. I remember initially discussing with the nurse about my career and then walking into the surgery room. I laid down and then I just drew a complete blank and woke up post-surgery. It was really that quick. Waking up from anesthesia was the absolute worst. By the time I got back, I was extremely nauseous and the vertigo was really hard to overcome. I took a glance in the mirror and liked what I saw. I then had to take the anti-nausea pills along with a xanax to fall asleep as quick as I could. It was pretty rough. I woke up 3 hours later to look at my face again and what do you know, the swelling comes in full effect and now my nose wasn't recognizable anymore.

Post-Op Day 1:
The anesthesia's side effects wore off and I was off to performing my post op instructions. 1:30PM was my next appointment and I made it to that just in time to talk about the rhinoplasty. I saw a few in surgery photos and with held judgement. Dr. Yoo discussed that my nose was primarily thick skin and not much cartilage to his surprise and that really worried me. He was able to enhance my dorsal bridge greatly and now I can finally say I have a profile but it seems that I might not get the tip that I always wanted due to the thick nasal skin. The alar base reduction will take some getting used to as well because I asked for a conservative reduction but it seemed to have been a little too reduced to my liking. I will have to reserve judgement until the swelling comes down a bit more. Coming back home, I had no issues eating or drinking. The only thing that might suck is the temporalis fascia incision spot stretches and hurts a bit when you open your jaw wide to eat. Yawning also really sucks. The painkillers are kind of a must.. Especially when its late at night and you try to get out of bed to urinate.. the horror of the rib pain.

Post-Op Day 2
Woke up at 8AM and performed my post-operative instructions. Nothing out of the ordinary except that the pain feels different than day 1. Everything feels more like a minor throbbing or stinging pain. The splints are also very uncomfortable as well as you can definitely feel it in your nostrils. Right now my nose looks a bit upturned but I'm expecting it to drop. The base has changed my look a lot and this was why I was so afraid of getting the alar base reduction but the flipside is that my face has become a lot more masculine looking since the surgery. Just the overall structure isn't very soft and round anymore. I'm pleased with how much slimmer it has made my face but theres still so much more healing to come.

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Donald B. Yoo, MD, FACS

Donald B. Yoo, MD, FACS

Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon

4.5 | 179 Reviews
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Replies (6)

January 30, 2016
Good luck in your recovery! So nice to see an Asian male's review :)
January 30, 2016
Thank you! Theres definitely not enough on here and I feel that many feel discouraged to move forward with rhinoplasty because of it.
January 30, 2016
Thank you for such an in depth review! I look forward to your updates and pics ! Happy healing
January 31, 2016
Thank you, hoping everything turns out alright for me.
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February 10, 2016

Wow! Thank you for your review! This is extremely helpful.

May 11, 2016
Thank you for the detailed and honest review! I can't wait to see dr. Yoo when I have the funds all lined up. Wishing you a speedy recovery. :)
UPDATED FROM disclosure91
4 days post

Day 3 and Day 4

disclosure91
Post-Op Day 3 - 4
The meds are rough. They take a huge toll on your system and you feel extremely lethargic. I'm starting to question whether or not I even want to take them anymore. The side effects that it has on me are pretty tolling. Depression, Lethargy, Shortness of breath, Slight nausea. Mind you I don't feel any of those symptoms before I take the Medrol Dosepak and Bactrim DS. Without fail, every time I take a dose of either of those, it kicks in within an hour. I spend most of my day in the house and only step out to get food from a delivery driver. Its been pretty rough on my mental state but the xanax sure does help.
Cleaning has been a breeze and is pretty routine for me now. The post-nasal drip has minimized immensely to the point where its just like regular mucus dripping from your nose as if you were standing in the cold. I was also able to finally wash my hair of the betadine and it was the most relief i felt in days.
So far sleeping has gotten worst. Although I sleep elevated on three pillows, for some odd reason I'm always waking up in pain. I wake up with the inside of my nostrils feeling really cold and my throat feeling really dry. I'm not sure if its because I have a tendency to start highly elevated and slide my head lower on the pillow as the night goes by but whatever the reason is, I have to keep hydrocodone by my bed to alleviate the pain upon wakening. I never get a straight 8 hours of sleep. I'm always waking up sporadically throughout the night.

Recovery is brutal.

Replies (4)

January 31, 2016
Sounds rough! I hope the end result is worth it for you. I like the suspenseful build up with posting just your befores today lol!
January 31, 2016
BTW I sent you a PM
January 31, 2016
Answered!
January 18, 2018
hi any update if your nose? my nose is so sinilar to yours and im considering Dr Yoo. could you please share ur experience? is ur tip of ur nose get smaller?? thank you so much
UPDATED FROM disclosure91
6 days post

Day 5 and Day 6

disclosure91
It's happening!! And No I don't mean my cast removal. I mean the near end of the FREAKING MEDS. known as the antibiotic bactrim DS and the steroid Medrol dosepak. I finally finished my Medrol dosepak, the cause of so much misery during the initial healing stage. Seriously, that sides are absolutely terrible. You feel like a chemo patient on that stuff. I swore i lost more hair than usual those past few days as well. I still have 3 Bactrim DS pills to take still but so as soon as thats over, I'll finally feel healthy and functioning again.

Sad News! I was pushed two days ahead with my original removal day being the 6th day. Really sucks but who am I to argue. New Date is Feb 3rd at 11AM. At this point I'm more excited to breathe again than to see my nose. My cast has been slipping off each and every day even though I have been keeping it dry like instructed. Theres really nothing you can do about the sweat and oil build up and I have been experiencing a ton of that. It loosened up the tape immensley and I don't even know if the cast is securely set anymore. Besides that, I've observed and analyzed my nose day and night only to know that I'd probably wont be that surprised once the cast comes off.. Well maybe when I get to see the actual bridge that I wanted for years I'll be super ecstatic. Right now the tip is still the size of a tomato. Its round and ugly and shows no promise of a narrow tip :-( The roundness is what my old nose looked like and I am really expecting a really drastic reduction in bulbosity and width. I really do hope that underneath the cast shows something that I am totally not expecting. If I even see that the nose is taking the right direction in healing and forming a strong bridge with tip definition, I will go and praise Dr. Yoo anytime and any chance I get. Anyway here are some updated full frontal, profile and base shots with the cast on. As you can see, the cast slipped off quite a bit but all I can do as of right now is to keep it dry until Wednesday.

Heres to more healing!

Replies (3)

February 3, 2016
How are you ? hang in there buddy, hopefully you will like how your nose looks after you get your cast off. thanks you for your pics and updates.
February 4, 2016
better and better each day. the cast is off now. I only like looking at it from a profile view because its extremely swollen. it helps when they walk you through the expectations. keeping it to yourself and not talking to them about it only worsens how you feel.
February 11, 2016
My swelling was super bad after the cast removal and after 2 weeks nose taping. It was bad to a point that he immediately gave me a steroid shot ( I didn't ask for it). wait 5 more weeks. Each weeks, the swelling will reduce slowly.