Amazing Surgery with Dr. Raja Srour

So, when I lived in Thailand for the better part of my teens and early twenties, I got sucked into the idea of fixing a nose that I always hated with cheap plastic surgery. By cheap, I mean cheap to do plastic surgery in Thailand; I picked the best hospital in Bangkok for plastic surgery, which is called Yanhee and is more expensive than other hospitals. I thought that I'd be perfectly fine; after all, I didn't fly in for medical tourism and I wasn't skeptical about the doctors offices or hospitals. I lived in Thailand, I did my research, I had Thai friends, and they were all on-board. Everything seemed like it would go swimmingly.

My doctor's name was Dr. Pitch and he had about twenty years of experience, sixteen in the same hospital, and I felt really comfortable with his easy, confident manner. Unfortunately, my results were not as expected. It appears that the bone used to build up the left side of my bridge slipped underneath my cheek bone, leaving a crevice at the top of my bridge and making it appear wide at one point with some mushiness that doesn't have bony support. I wasn't happy with the twisted look, so Dr. Pitch offered to fix it for free, which I shouldn't have taken him up on. I went under anesthesia and woke up to find that my nose looked exactly the same. I could not see a difference for the life of me, but I sure felt one--it hurt! Because I was interested in breast augmentation, Dr. Pitch also did my boobs and pinned back my ears. I would call my breast augmentation an unequivocal success (hey, when the guy is used to giving "ladyboys" natural-looking boobs, you should see what he can do with someone who actually started out as a woman!) and my ears so-so. I mean, they're even now, and they're better, but I feel like they still stick out at the top. Unfortunately, I woke up during the otoplasty as they were cauterizing my wounds (it was a twilight procedure) and it was really traumatic because I could hear the sizzling of the hot tool and they tied my arms down because I kept trying to cover my head (I was really doped up). I couldn't feel it, but my body was still reacting as if it were in pain (shaking, cold, freaking out, etc). I still hate when my husband touches my ears, so I'll probably never get it fixed and will just live with it.

Anyhow, after my second revision rhino, when nothing changed, I tried to be optimistic. I kept telling myself that it might take up to three years to go back to normal, so I shouldn't judge it yet. Well, fast forward three years....my nose is healed, un-swollen, and perfectly normal...minus that weird crevice at the bridge that didn't go away and makes it look wide and makes it totally structurally unstable. I don't know why I thought the guy who messed me up would be able to fix it, but I was young, wild, and invincible; I thought people didn't promise things they couldn't do. I had no idea that doctors practiced outside of their abilities. I would recommend not going to Yanhee because, stuck stateside, there is no way to get it fixed. I emailed the hospital with an Xray showing them what happened, but they ignored me (obviously, I'm a million miles away and they don't give a flip).

SOOOO I did a ton of research and I decided that I'd like Dr. Srour of Cosmetic Art Institute to do my revision rhinoplasty. He's got a great sense of angles and aesthetics, plus, it's in Beverly Hills, which is like the go-to plastic surgery spot. There's this forehead-nose angle that most rhinoplasty surgeons never get right and it makes me crazy. It's like everyone gets this straight, "natural" nose job that doesn't take their features into account. It seems like most doctors only focus on the nose, not on the whole face. I think Dr. Srour can do the surgery, though, because he is an artist (no, really, he actually sells his artwork, too) as well as a doctor. I trust Dr. Srour's sense of balance and aesthetics and I think he'll do a good job. I mean, I'm in America, so here's hoping for some success!

I feel like it's better to go in the USA and do it than it is to fly to India (my husband is Indian) for a cheaper, and likely worse, result, whereas I would have been all for it before. I'm nervous because this is my third rhino and all I want is for my stupid nose to fit my face. I never felt like it suits me, like I'm the only one in the world on whom a nose doesn't look right, but this is because of three previous breaks (according to my last surgeon) as well as two botched rhinoplasties (and not some serious case of BDD, lol). Well, there was that, and the fact that my mom took me for a nose job at 14 and let the doctor tell me everything wrong with my nose and then decided she would rather have a boat; I subsequently had to live eight years knowing how bad it was before I could afford to fix it on my own.) I just see how cute everyone else looks (like Samara Weaving--that's the nose I want!!! OMG she's just stunning) with their new noses and I think, d*mn, I hope that Dr. Srour is going to be able to help me but this behind me, once and for all! I just want a cute nose that fits my face, so let's hope he can do it!

This has all happened so fast! A few months ago, I was looking in the mirror trying to figure out why my nose looked twisted, then I got my wisdom teeth out, which required an xray. On said xray, it was highly apparent that I was missing bone in the left side of my nose; I have no idea how it's still standing. So, it's definitely not a choice on whether or not to get a revision. This is a necessity, which is a bummer because I think I could've learned to live with my nose without doing this again. But, here we are, getting ready to travel all the way to Beverly Hills for the chance to get this fixed.

I got in touch with Dr. Srour and his office staff is really nice. He was prompt to answer and even if the office people are a bit busy (will email back-and-forth, then suddenly stop for 16hrs), they're really nice and very helpful. I like Dr. Srour's willingness to work with me on the price of the revision.

Since my consultation and my surgery are scheduled for the 10th and 12th, I don't have much time in between the two to decide if we should move forward with this. I want to think that everything will go well, so I did schedule the surgery, but my husband and I decided that if we don't feel 100% comfortable, we will not proceed and will just have a Californian/Mexican vacation. (Aren't I lucky he's so flexible??!) If we do it, Dr. Srour will do my post-op checkups on the 15th and the 18th, so I'm pretty sure he uses packing. I've never had two follow-ups before, but in Thailand they make you stay the night.

I'm not very nervous since I've been through this twice already. I know what to expect as far as pain goes, but I did order some arnica tablets to take before the surgery to prevent bruising and bad swelling. Historically, my body will swell but barely bruise; I usually get one mild black eye (yellow eye) and look like I have the mumps. I am slightly worried about my juvederm because the swelling may shift it....does anyone have any experience with this? Should they just fall back into place after? I hope so, since i just did them two weeks ago.

Well, here goes. We're leaving to Cali in a week....yay!

I talked with Dr. Srour on the phone--I'm getting a great deal, since he usually charges $10,000 for a revision. He's a bit hard-mannered, but I'm not going there to make friends, lol. He said he does closed rhinoplasties almost exclusively, but he'll do an open one if I turn out to need a cartilage graft or silicone implant. He's been in practice for four decades, so I hope he does this well! Hubby feels good about it, but I don't know what to expect yet. We've moved my surgery to July 10th!! Yikes!!! I'm so excited and ready for this to be over!