New Life Begins with a New Nose - Glendale, CA

Hello everyone, I thought I'd write this review to document my journey and help anyone else out who is thinking of going through with a rhinoplasty procedure. Particularly anyone who is thinking of choosing Dr. Grigoryants.
Although the price for Grigoryants was a little higher than expected, I don't mind because I am a firm believer of "you get what you pay for" with surgery. I know I'm in good hands and this brings me great comfort, which is invaluable after you've had your trust dashed by a bad surgeon.
So, how did I get here? Well, two years ago I got a "tip plasty" in Prague for £500. I thought I'd quite like to have a pointier, smaller tip as my nose had always been a bit bulbous. At such a low price, I thought it was worth the risk. How much damage could a little "tip plasty" do? It wasn't even a real rhinoplasty, it was just messing with cartilage right?...
Nope. The surgery left me with a nose I hated. Once the swelling went away, I was left with an over-rotated (still bulbous) tip which gave me a hook nose, and a strange-looking hanging columella, which, over the past two years, has seemed to droop lower and lower.
Now, whenever I smile, I feel extremely self-conscious. My smile used to be my favourite feature.. it used to get me many compliments. But then I noticed when I smile, my columella/tip droops down and forms a fleshy sort of nub under my nose. From the side, the inside of my nostrils are exposed at the same time. The wet membranous tissue means make-up can't even hide it. My friends often tell me my nose is running and that I need a tissue, but it is just the moist inside of my nose gleaming. Because that is what the inside of a nose does. It's disgusting.
As my tip has always been bulbous, I am keen to achieve that pointed look Dr. Grigoryants is so good at, that I have always dreamed of. Yes, a pointed, narrow tip is priority number 2, with tucking in my dangly nub of a columella as number 1.
Dr. Grigoryants agreed with these 2 points and also suggested narrowing the nasal bones (hopefully that will straighten my nose and make it less crooked), shaving the bridge (to get rid of a small bump and to get a slope), and maybe narrowing the nostrils.
So in order of importance:
1. Raise the columella
2. Refine the tip
3. Shave the top of the bridge
4. Narrow the nasal bones
5. Narrow the nostrils
This all sounds great to me. I hate my nose so much currently that I know I'm going to love whatever he does.
I have recently met someone who I am convinced is the love of my life. I am putting off starting a new life with him, because I want to start it without my columella hanging over me (see what I did there). This is what really pushed me to get the ball rolling with Dr. Grigoryants, I wish I'd done this sooner but hey. I'm so excited to get this done so I can focus on my life.

I am traveling from the UK to get this done, so I thought I'd lay out what I'm doing in case anyone else is thinking of traveling.

I had an email consultation with Dr. Grigoryants a while back, where I sent him photos and told him what I didn't like. He took about 2 days to respond with precise details on how he would fix it. I agreed with everything he said. I liked his direct approach, just listing problems and solutions.

I then emailed his office at the start of January asking if I could be squeezed in asap. After some unflattering Christmas snaps, I realised I couldn't put this off any longer. Amazingly, Ani told me they had a cancellation on 24th January, which I snapped up immediately.

I had to pay the entire cost upfront to secure the place as it was short notice. I went on my bank online and arranged a SWIFT transfer using the bank details Ani gave me. About 5 business days later it went through, I received an email letting me know and I got very excited.

After that, I booked my accommodation (an Airbnb 5 minutes walk away!) and flights. Grigoryants also required blood work, and due to it being such short notice I bought a blood testing kit online, who get back to you within 3 days of receiving your blood sample. I booked an analysis that would show how well my blood clots, how many red/white blood cells there are, how many platelets, how much haemoglobin. Hopefully that's enough info. It's day 2 for this so I'm expecting to get an email with my results tomorrow, which I will be forwarding. I was told that normally Dr. Grigoryants likes to see blood work 2 weeks before the procedure so I feel a bit stressed about that.

£10,200 ($12,500) - Revision rhinoplasty
£1000 - 12 night stay at a nearby Airbnb
£500 - Return flights from UK to LAX
£175 ($200) - Local currency for food
£100 ($125) - Medications to be picked up at my pre-op on Saturday
£69 - Blood testing kit from medichecks

I'm also taking my iPhone with the uber app so I can pay for transport through my phone. I read somewhere that it is cheaper to get an uber to Glendale from LAX rather than getting a bus or normal taxi, so that's what I'll be doing.

I have my pre-op consultation at 11am on Saturday - only 3 days away! I've already printed out pics of my nose (so I can point out what I don't like more easily) and pics of noses I like. I can't believe this is happening still. I don't think it'll hit me until the plane flies off on Friday morning.

I've finally made it to LA and am absolutely exhausted! I've been travelling for about 18 hours so far. I didn't sleep at all last night. I was nervous about sleeping through my alarm, flying, getting to all the right gates on time etc. I was also stupidly excited because I knew that my life was about to be improved drastically in the near future, and the reign of my confidence-sapping shnozz was coming to an end. No more editing my nose in pictures! No more staying home from social events due to the fear of tagged photos! I'm always paranoid that when I laugh people are wondering why my nose curls under like that. It will feel so amazing to be able to laugh freely! Oh my god! I'm so excited!

I only brought carry on luggage (one rucksack) since I figured I'm going to be hiding in my Airbnb recovering for most of my stay like a cave troll, so I didn't bring much. I brought a selection of my comfiest, ugliest clothes, as well as one nice outfit that I can go to my appointments in. I brought make-up in case I want to go out to the shops or something when my cast comes off. I'm not going to go out while I have the cast on - it just looks a bit too drastic for me to feel comfortable being in public.

I haven't brought any arnica or supplements or anything useful. Don't even have a neck pillow. Idiot. I will probably regret this when my head swells to gigantic proportions and I have two massive black eyes. I'll let you know how much I regret this decision later this week.

I didn't realise getting into the U.S. was so... intense. I was questioned by a few different immigration officers on how long I was staying for, where abouts, what I was doing etc. I was straight up honest about getting a nose job because I suck at lying and didn't want to get dragged off to a room for acting guilty or something. One guy said I didn't need a nose job (only one out of three mind you). He was very sweet but inside I was like "oh yes I do!" This is something I need to do for me, and me only. Other people might not understand but it will make such a difference to me internally.

I'm all sunshine in this post so far, however I will say I am getting a little antsy because my blood test results were supposed to be sent over yesterday (3 day turnaround ahem?) and I haven't had them yet. It is day 4. Hoping they get sent to me by 11am tomorrow (day 5 wtf) morning before my pre-op appointment. I have this horrible fear Dr. G might cancel the whole thing if they don't hurry up.

Sorry this wasn't very factual, it was more of a chatty blog but nothing's happening yet so that's why!