Rhinoplasty 12/15/2011 - Troy,MI

I've been thinking of getting a nose job for a VERY long time. I've always known I've had a more prominent nose and have wanted one since I was considerably younger (12ish).





I thought I would grow into it, and for a while I did. I hit 18 and was ok with my nose. But it didn't take long for it to pick up the pace again (I read somewhere the nose never stops growing). It got to the point where I had to take front angle shots to be happy with it, and anytime someone tagged me in a facebook picture from the side, I cringed at the sight.





It got to the point a where enough was enough, and I didn't want to deal with being so embarrassed any longer. Of course my close friends, family, and even boyfriend tried to convince me out of it. "You don't need it!" To which I replied, "How many of your purchases are needs? I'm willing to bet less than 5%. And it's easy for you to say that, I know it could be worse, but it could also be better - and I'm not one to settle for less."





I started saving, and being a college student that was really hard to do. I was initially saving to buy a house, but due to me being a student and having an unstable work schedule, I couldn't get approved for anything I wanted. I figured, I have a year left to graduate, I'll worry about getting a house then. For now, I'm in school and with my 25th birthday this year, and I decided I'd do something to make me happy.





I started to do some research and found realself.com. I was getting irritated because it was becoming increasingly difficult to find a plastic surgeon whose work I liked, who was in my price range, and who wasn't terribly far away.





I looked at several surgeons, but for many something was compromised - either the distance, the cost, or the quality of their work. And considering this was my nose we're talking here, I was unwilling to settle.





I then looked here on realself and saw some postings about Dr. Theodore Golden. A quick trip to his website and I saw several noses he worked on - and not just the noses with the large dorsal humps (which I later discovered are the easiest to fix). I loved the outcome of his noses. For one - there was a drastic difference, and I'm not interested in a small change (equivalent to what I can accomplish with cosmetics for considerably less money). For another - he gets the nose shape down beautifully from what I'm seeing. A google search showed just one poor review of him, and that was due to him being botched by 2 separate rhinoplasties earlier.





I emailed Dr. Golden, then called me and we spoke briefly. He told me he only does facial plastic surgery and especially noses. One statement he made in particular resonated with me: "Ever wonder why so many surgeons have tons of pictures of all their surgeries and only one or two of rhinoplasties? Because rhinoplasty is THE hardest procedure to do." I definitely noticed this, and even when they did post pics, it was simply the type of pics with a dorsal hump, which isn't really my problem.





October 22, 2011 - Pre-op Consultation: I drove out to see Dr. Golden (5 hours!). He showed me how booked he is with primarily rhinoplasties. He showed me his famous binder of noses and went through it to show me the work done. He's extremely honest and forward. To some, this may be intimidating but I appreciated it. We discussed and he told me one thing he cannot change is my thick skin.





The rest of the consultation was spent discussing cost, post-op visits, and specifically what I wanted done. We decided narrowing the nose, deprojecting the tip, smoothing the left plane, refining the tip, and straightening the nostrils (one leans in on a more drastic angle than the other). He said he MAY have to break my nose but regardless it will all remain closed as he only does closed rhinoplasties.





He also mentioned a woman had a near identical nose to mine and he'd be taking off her cast this week. He said he'd ask her permission to share her before and after pictures with me so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!





I will post more as I have more!