24 YO Woman, Rhinoplasty/Septoplasty/Turbinate Reduction - Glendale, CA

A "nose job" is something I have wanted since I was in highschool. I knew my parents would never financially support me with this, so I had to wait until I started working to pay for it. Well, right when I graduated college and started in the real world I scheduled a consultation with a Beverly Hills doctor. It only took a few weeks to get the appointment. I decided he was not the doctor for me. I did not schedule another consultation for a few months. Then, I found Dr. G. His reviews were INSANELY amazing. And I loved all of the work he put on his website. I called immediately and the wait time for a consultation with Dr. G was THREE months. I scheduled it thinking I would never wait that long and would probably find another doctor by then. I read more reviews about him and someone mentioned that the wait time for surgery was SIX months. I was discouraged none the less. Thinking this would not happen for nine months. (3 for consultation and 6 for surgery). The timing actually worked well. It took some courage to ask my mom to go to the consultation with me, but I eventually did. She was freaked out when I first told her, but after coming to my consultation with Dr. G she felt much better.

It was then a waiting game of 6 months for the actual surgery. I thought the day would NEVER come. Well it came quickly now that I look back on it. All of a sudden I had my pre-op appointment, then had to get my blood tests done, and then had to get my stuff inline at work and then boom it was surgery time. Luckily, I was the first surgery of the day so I knew I would not be waiting for a long time. I went in to see Dr. G just for cosmetic reasons, and then I discovered I had a deviated septum. I have never had an issue with my breathing previously so I had no idea.

Well, my surgery took a lot longer than expected because apparently my septum was really deviated, and my turbinates were also reduced in size. I woke up fine. My eyes were watering a lot. My pain level was a 3/4 and the nurse gave me a pain pill. ( I was prescribed Norcos). Then the drive home I was pretty knocked out and I went straight to the couch and was sleeping on and off for the rest of the day. I took one more Norco before I went to bed. I also drank a Jamba juice. I was really lucky and did not get sick ( more people do from ingesting too much blood that cannot be digested). The absolute worst thing about the recovery for me was sleeping. I always sleep on my back anyways, so that was not the issue. Sleeping upright was not that bad. It was having to breathe out of my mouth and waking up to a really dry uncomfortable mouth. I should have purchased a humidifier. It would have made this a lot better. The day after my surgery I had the worst swelling. Two days after my surgery I felt the worst ( my parents made me make dinner etc so I was wiped out). I have read in reviews that people go through waves of anxiety and ups/downs, regrets etc through this process and they are so right. Even though I was 100% on getting this surgery, I did think MANY times over the past week that I made a mistake and that I hated my new nose.

Tuesday (12/9) was my splint removal. I arrived there 15 minutes early for my appointment, I was seen right away, and then the doctor came in and I was ready to leave in 5 minutes. The doc was very sweet and funny per usual. An assistant came in and taught me how to tape and then I made my 4 week appointment. I was in an out in 20 minutes. It was wonderful.

When I first saw my face, I was shocked. I was prewarned that I would look like an avatar, which I totally did. I think everyone will notice little things that they will be really worried about at first. At first, I was really worried about the space in between my eyes. There was a hard lump there and I thought it was never go away. Three days later, it is completely gone. Nothing to worry about.


Here are the things I have learned so far about this experience.

1. I think the most important thing is choosing your right doctor. Yes, Dr. G did not call me after my surgery or make any attempt to make sure I was ok. Yes, Dr. G only came in and talked to me briefly before the surgery. HOWEVER, he is by far the best doctor I came across for the job. He is SO busy and has SO many surgeries/appointments/consultations so his time with each client is limited, but I would rather have a busy doctor who is the most amazing rhino surgeon in the USA, than a doctor who was pretty good but did a nice followup/held my hand/ spent more time with me.

2. I stayed away from doing any morphs. Every nose is different. I have large features (large eyes, eyebrows, mouth, head etc) and I knew a cute little button nose would not look good on me. I kept my faith in my doctor.

3. During my consultation, I first let the doctor tell me what he can do. I would rather hear what he has to say first, and luckily, it matched to exactly what I wanted. ( less bulbous tip, thinner, and take out a little bump on the profile)

4. You cannot expect perfection. I have been pretty good with this. It has only been 8 days since my surgery, and I know there are a lot more changes to come. Today was the first day I finally am getting used to the new nose. I know that whatever the final end product is, it will be 100% better than my old nose but it might not be exactly perfect.

This is all I have for now!

Hello All,

When I was shopping one day in CVS before my surgery, I saw this "skin sensitive" tape ( it was blue) and I decided to buy it. It was SUCH a good call. I changed my gauze every few hours after my surgery until I got my split off, and it made taking the gauze off so much better. It did not hurt to take off at all. I used the hospital tape once when I put a gauze on right after surgery, and I winced when I took it off. It is not unbearable, but it was much better having skin sensitive tape!

Hope this helps some people!

I now like this angle for pictures. However, I am still struggling with liking pictures head on with my new nose. I think it looks weird and wide.