Rhinoplasty with Mr Lucian Ion - Primary and Finesse Revision - London, UK

On Friday 14th June I had open tip rhinoplasty surgery with Lucian Ion, and yesterday I had the cast, stitches, tape and splints removed. (and I apologize in advance for the long read!


The problems with my nose as stated by Ion:
Front:
Nasal bridge: moderate deviation to the right
Nasal tip: moderately wide
Profile:
Nasal bridge: slightly convex, slight over-projection
Nasal tip: slight over-projection


I also had a small bump on my nose from several hits to my nose. But one of the things I really hated about my nose was the V shaped/downward arrow shape, my nose had from the front especially when I was smiling. I had always said it was droopy, but I don’t think that’s the right word for it. Lucian Ion said it was more of an illusion and what the eye wanted to see, but it is apparent when smiling, and also in ¾ view. He said that everyone’s nose had it a little bit otherwise your nose would look like it had been amputated! And that he would fix it for me.
This is the decision we came to together:
Nasal bridge: straight from front, lower on profile (approximately 5mm) with slight supra-tip break (slight curve)
Nasal tip: narrower from the front, reduced projection (approximately 4mm), slight shortening (approximately 3mm), and increased definition on profile
Alar base: alar base reduction
Columella: reduced lateral show
Nasolabial angle: increased slightly


I have hated my nose since I was 11 when we made silhouette drawings of our profiles in class and I thought mine looked so manly due to my nose. Then when I was 12 I saw in photos how horrible my nose looked from the front when I was smiling, and from then on I hated my nose and avoided photos. When I had to have photos I turned my head to a kind of ¾ position, but that wasn’t much better either. From the age of 14 I decided I wanted rhinoplasty surgery (because I didn’t know much about plastic surgery before then and that was when I found out it could be fixed). And I decided on having the surgery about two years ago, and have been researching seriously for a year as I had seen how wrong rhinoplasty could go.


Rhinoplasty is the only way to make your nose smaller. I tried to sugar coat and think that my nose wasn’t as bad as it was (like everyone told me), but then I’d see myself in profile and it made me so upset. I cried so many times because of it because I felt that it was just not fair. Why did I have to have a big nose? It made me feel so masculine and unattractive. Because for me a big nose is the worst facial feature, I would never go out with a man with a big nose, but then I would think isn’t that a bit hypocritical of me because I have a huge nose. And I can’t think of a single woman I find pretty who had a big nose, because to me big noses aren’t cute. Every time I laughed or smiled I would raise my hands over my mouth and nose because I thought my nose looked so ugly. I tried the makeup technique of contouring and highlighting to make my nose look narrower and the tip more raised, but it made my nose look worse! So I decided that was it, I was going to do it.


Also, I’ll add at this point. I’m a small person, my height is 157cm (5ft1) and I weigh about 41kg. Nothing about me is big, so I didn’t want to have to have a big nose.


After a lot of research I decided on Lucian Ion (who funnily enough was my first choice so I kinda went in a massive circle).


I had a consult with him in February. I was nervous that if I didn’t like him or if I didn’t feel I could trust him then it would throw all my plans out the window for rhinoplasty. I felt very comfortable with him. He’s a very nice and charming man. He is very calm and I felt I could trust him. He pointed out everything that was bad about my nose plus some other things I didn’t notice (like I had never noticed that it was deviated). I went with my mum (who was against my having the surgery) and she liked him and felt he was a good choice. I did a lot of research before booking the consultation (Ion was the only surgeon I met with). I chose Lucian Ion because he is a member of baaps and bapras, he a primary and revision rhinoplasty surgeon, he mainly does facial plastic surgery and I had read lots of good reviews about him. Also, surgeons all have their own signature mark, and he favours more feminine and cute noses, which was exactly what I wanted.


I then had to spend ages convincing my mum because even after meeting Ion she was still against it. She would say yes, then no. I spent ages reasoning and trying to convince her. I think I should add, my mum doesn’t have a big nose at all. She is half Chinese so her nose isn’t overly projected like mine was and her front view is fine. Anyway, she finally changed her mind, I booked the surgery and I was lucky to get a date in two weeks times (because the waiting time the previous occasions I had enquired was two months! – because he is a popular surgeon)


I had the surgery at BMI Weymouth. The staff were so nice and made me feel really comfortable. It’s really nice there, more like a hotel than a hospital! I was so scared though (because the rest of the week I had been worrying more about an exam I had to sit the day before surgery). I arrived at 11.30 and my surgery was at 13.00. However, I didn’t have surgery until 15.30 (the person before me was having two procedures and the nurse said that Ion was slow in surgery because he was a perfectionist). Luckily there was a tv in my room, and so I could distract myself a bit, but I was so scared. My mum didn’t help saying things like, ‘I’m not taking responsibility if it goes wrong’ (which I was so scared about), and ‘what if you die, this is all self inflicted, then I won’t have a daughter’.


I didn’t even feel as if I had been asleep long when the nurse woke me up, and I was thinking please don’t wake me up, I’m having such a nice sleep. My first words were like, please can I have something to eat I’m so starving? (I hadn’t eaten since about 22.00 the previous night and it was now 17.45) I was also so surprised because I could breathe through my nose! After being awake half an hour they took me upstairs to my room. I felt very nauseous at this point. The nurse gave me some water and told me to drink slowly. I felt nauseous for about an hour.


Ion also came to see me in my room to see how I was doing. He told me that the surgery went well and my nose fitted my features much better now and that the result was similar to the 3d imaging we had done on Monday. We spoke a bit and then he left. My mum and younger brother arrived at 20.00, I had some supper (I had filled out a menu when I got there, but I ordered so much because there were lots of options and the nurse was like order as much as you want, order some more drinks!), I was given my medication, they called a taxi for us and we left the hospital at 22.00
I could already see an improvement in my nose, despite the swelling and the cast. I felt really bad the next day, and all I could think was ‘what have I done to myself?. I think thought compared to other people (I have read lots of rhinoplasty stories), my recovery was quite hard, and I only became more mobile by day 6. Also, my nose bled a lot after surgery, and I wore the drip pad thing (is that what it’s called? I don’t think so!) until Sunday and still then some clear liquid was coming out of my nose. I phoned the emergency number that I had been given by Ion’s staff, to check that it was okay to be bleeding so much and they said it was okay. Also, I don’t really remember anyone else mentioning this, but the inner corner of my eyes were really sore and really hurt, and would start watering every time I woke up until about day 6.
I still couldn’t manage to take the train and tube up to Ion’s office to get the cast removed yesterday so my mum drove me. I was really scared about this because I had read that some people had said it really hurt. Ms Angelica Kavouni (she is another plastic surgeon who has an office in the same building as Ion – she is also his wife) took off the cast and tape, and started removing the dry blood from inside my nose. (Because the nurse was running late). She said that the side profile looked really nice. Anyway, the nurse came and took over. The worst part was taking out the internal splints (to me anyway, because there was a lot of dried blood around them because my nose had bled a fair amount). She then said to me, ‘I don’t know what your nose was like before, but it’s tiny now’.
I cannot believe that this is my nose. I love it so much (I can’t believe I’m saying that!) It seems so unreal. I’m so happy with it. Literally words cannot describe it. Lucian Ion has done an amazing job!!! I never imagined that it would look this good, especially the front. I love it! Even though there is still some swelling in the front and side I love it! I wouldn’t mind if there was no swelling now and this was the final result, that’s how much I love it. Ion is amazing and really nice to, and easy to talk to (I never imagined a plastic surgeon would be like that, the ones I have seen on TV have been really creepy and I wouldn’t want them coming near me, let alone cutting up a part of my face). I recommend him completely. He should win an award for being so good at rhinoplasty surgery and for being such a good surgeon. All I have to say is Thank you so much Lucian Ion for my lovely nose.

I noticed that these photos came up much smaller on the website than on my computer, so I uploaded some bigger versions so you can see the change more clearly

Right I must seem so stupid, please ignore the above post. Even though I uploaded larger images they still came out the same small size - I don't know what's going on there.