25 Year Old Female Rhinoplasty - London, GB

This website has been a great help to me in researching rhinoplasty before having the procedure and I want to share my experience in the hope that it will be useful to some of you who choose to read it.

After disliking the dorsal hump on my nose and contemplating rhinoplasty since my early teenage years I chose to finally go ahead with the procedure this summer. It was daunting at first as I did not have any friends or family who have had the procedure or who knew anything about it. I began my search by taking to the internet and looking on the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons to find surgeons specializing in Rhinoplasty in the UK. After narrowing it down to a short list of surgeons I read more about them on their websites. I had seen on realself to look for a surgeon who shows your desired procedure in e majority of their before and after pictures on their website. After reading many positive reviews and liking what I saw on his website I chose to book an initial consultation with Lucian Ion. I googled as much as I could to learn about the procedure and Mr Ion as a surgeon and found blogs provided by users on this website very informative. The first consultation went very well and I can confirm that what people say about Mr Ion on this website is very true. He is a calm, professional man who comes across as very intelligent. He began by asking me what I would like to change about my nose and then took photographs of my face from the front and side. He then altered the photographs on his computer to try and achieve the image that matched what I wanted. As mentioned before on this website, you can see from the way he alters the morphs that he has great attention to detail. Throughout the consultation he listened carefully to what I said which made me feel at ease knowing that he would not impose upon me what he viewed to be a 'nice nose' without taking my opinions into consideration. Because I had been so unhappy with the hump on my nose, I knew exactly what I wanted to profile to look like but actually had not realized that I had not yet fully considered the new nose from the front. We decided to book a second consultation so that I could think further about the procedure and get a better idea of what I wanted to change from the front view.

I had my second consultation in July and arrived with a clearer idea of the aspects of my nose that I wanted altered from both views. We discussed these at length and again he listened carefully and was generous with his time. I appreciated that although we had been talking for over 40 minutes he was not trying to rush me out of his office.

I had my surgery on 8th August at BMI Weymouth hospital. The room was lovely and spacious with a comfortable adjustable bed and a television. The surgery was scheduled for 3.30pm but I went in just after 7am to speak with the anesthetist. After chatting with Mr Ion around 12pm he let me know that he would be ready for the surgery early which was welcome news as the wait was making me feel nervous. I was taken downstairs by the nurse where I was administered the anesthetic and the next thing I knew I had woken up in my hospital bed. I was surprised at how little pain and nausea I felt. All staff at the hospital were very lovely and helpful and made my stay very comfortable. I had an overnight stay which I was happy for as I knew any problems I had could be helped by the staff. I slept better than I was expecting and only woke up once during the night to ask the nurse to bring a gauze to tie around my nose as blood was dripping from one of my nostrils. I had read that people get very sore throats and dry mouths but after sipping some water when I woke up my throat felt fine and I did not feel the need to purchase any sort of dry throat spray. I would advise bringing a small pot of Vaseline to hospital as my lips were very dry and a little sore when I woke up from breathing through my mouth all night. It's also a good idea to bring a shirt that buttons all the way down the front to avoid having to pull anything over your face. After surgery I found it most comfortable just to wear baggy trousers and a baggy buttoned shirt.

The next couple of days went alright. I felt a little out of it probably due to the medication. However, on day 4 I woke up feeling absolutely awful. I felt lethargic, hot and feverish and had a splitting headache. The nurse had told me that some of the medications can cause constipation and I had not been to the toilet properly since before the operation which I was suspecting may have been partly responsible for me feeling so dreadful. After phoning Mr Ion's office, his nurse advised that if the pain wasn't too great I could stop taking the painkillers I had been given as my symptoms where side effects of that medication. She also advised taking an over the counter laxative. Luckily within an hour or two I felt dramatically better. I began taking paracetamol instead of the painkillers from the hospital and on days 2, 3 and 4 I wore a small gauze given by the hospital which I tied around my nose to catch any drips of blood. Although there wasn't much bleeding after the first night I still found the dripping sensation very uncomfortable. Although I still had no pain or nausea, eating and drinking was a little difficult. When I swallowed water I could feel pressure building in my head as if I was on an airplane and a sort of gurgling as if the blood was draining behind my nose. Soft foods have been great and I have been eating things like porridge, soft fruits and dips as I really didn't feel like having to chew any hard or crunchy foods. It was also a little painful whenever I had to yawn as my nostrils would flare and pull the stitches a little but I found that as long as I yawned as much out of you mouth and not from my nose as possible, this helped a little. Other than that there were no major problems.

As I sit here writing this review I am now on day 6. I am no longer wearing the gauze on my face as the dripping has stopped completely. My face looked a little scary because of all the dried blood that had collected in and beneath my nostrils. I gently dabbed this away using warm salt water on a cotton bud to make myself look a little more presentable. From day 2 onwards I had a lot of swelling and bruising around my eyes which made vision in one eye a little blurred. Most of the swelling is now gone and only a little purple and yellow bruising around my eyes remains. The shape of the nose is still difficult to see as the cast is still on (I am having it removed tomorrow) and the tip appears to be very swollen and quite shapeless at the moment. I also have quite a bit of swelling inside one of my nostrils but I believe this is because more work may have been done on this side. At the moment I have absolutely no sense of taste or smell but am hoping this will return in due course.

As for now I think that is about all the information and advice I can share. I have chosen not to put photos on here as I am not comfortable posting the internet but if you would like to see them I am happy to send some in an email. I cannot give a conclusive opinion on Lucian Ion yet as I have not seen the results of his work but all my experiences with him so far have been very positive and I am excited to see the final outcome of his work in the forthcoming weeks. I really hope this review was as helpful to those who read it as the reviews I have read on here have been to me. If there is anything that I haven't covered about my experience that you would like to know please just ask and I'd be happy to help!