My Rib Cartilage Rhinoplasty Experience Beverly Hills

I just had my rib cartilage rhinoplasty done in early December. Today is the fifth day after surgery. I would like to share few things.

1) The first 2- 3 days after the surgery were the worst!! Not only my nose felt super congested and extremely uncomfortable, half side of my scalp, and incision on the rib were painful. I didn't want to take narco (the strong pain medication), so I take extra strength tylenol instead. Day 2 post surgery, I had to take 6 tylenols to relieve the pain. But on day 3, I only took 2 tylenols. Day 4 and day 5, I have not take any pain medication. Of course all the incision parts still very uncomfortable and the pain comes and goes, but I can bear it. I absolutely dislike to take any sorts of medication, I believe that the the side effects of all medication won't make recovery easier.

2) Medications like medrol dose ack, bacitracin have serious side effects like nausea, muscle pain and muscle weakness. My entire body especially my shoulder, neck and the rest of my upper body are painful and stiff secondary to these medication side effects. So on the 3rd day post surgery, I cut my dosage down. For example, instead of take 2 bacitracin per day, I only take one. On day 4 I decided to not take any bacitracin at all. Now the only medication ( day 5) that I take daily is medal dose pack and arnica pill.

3) On day 5 post surgery, my rib is definitely less painful. However, since day 4 I have about average 30 mins of constant pain on temporalis fascia incision area. The level of pain is like an amateur acupuncturist stabs 10 needles on one side of my head. It is very uncomfortable and painful. Here are some of the words I can think of to describe the pain " stabbing, discomfort, pinching".

4) Besides all these pain, each day I do feel better. Luckily, I didn't have any bruises after surgery. But my upper lip, the nose area, and the left side of my face are still a bit swollen. But I think within 2 weeks, The swollen parts won't be too bad.

5) I wasn't able to brush my teeth for 2 days after surgery due to the pain especially I still need to wear ClearCorrect braces. It's really taugh to take out and put the braces back after my meals. But I manage to brush my teeth and braces twice a day after day 4 post surgery.

6) I am 4 weeks post op now. My nose is still very swollen especially my tip area. My recovery seems kinda slow. I can't fully smile, and only able to smile half way. My upper lip area is still a little bit numb. Today I finally start to wear wired bra, but it is a little bit (min pain 2/10) discomfort around my rib incision area. I just hope that in the next few weeks, my nose will not look so big.

I couldn't really go out for the first three weeks due to very bad swelling. I looked like cartoon character with giant nose for three weeks. Now, although my swelling is much better compared to the first three week post op, but my nose looks BIG.

Yay! My nose is less swollen and look more natural now. My tip is still swollen but doesn't look huge anymore. My nose slowly looks better each week after surgery , especially after 5th week. I start to love my new nose right now. Both my mom and my best friend think my nose looks super natural and pretty.

It's almost 9 weeks post op now. My nose is definitely less swollen. My swelling is worse after 7:00pm. Profile looks great, but 45 degree angle looks a bit unnatural still. i can fully smile now, but I can feel the stiffness when I smile. Only 1/4 of my Nose(tip area)is swollen, the rest of the nose look great. My nose definitely looks better compared one months ago, but my recovery time is slow. I will do another update in a month. So far so good! Attached picture below is not me. But the nose shape is very similar to my current nose shape.

Attached is not my picture,but my nose shape is very similar.

It's 3 months post surgery. My tip is still a little swollen and hard. My nose definitely looks more defined but no big difference compare to as of 8 weeks post surgery. Dr. Yoo gave me a third steroid shot 2 weeks ago to reduce the swelling. He just did it and I didn't ask for it.
Now, I kinda have a new problem to deal with . My nostrils were not even prior surgery(.It wasn't bad neither) and Dr.Yoo mentioned he would try to make them symmetrical. The surgery may corrected the unevenness nostrils a little bit but I was expecting more. I will contact Dr. Yoo 's office to discuss about this problem next week.
I attached few pics of my 3 months post-op nose and my uneven nostrils. Please let me know what you think about my current nose. I really hope the unevenness of my nostrils will be less obvious in the next few months. But I doubt it . ????

10 months post op

I was on emotional roller coaster during the first 3 months post op. Then I was happy with my nose for few months when the swelling is getting better and better each day.
Imaging how would you feel if after 10 months post op, your doctor confirmed and suggested that you need a revision surgery.

Two problematic areas after 10 months post op are:

1. The rib incision scar is very visible and mine turns brown

( Dr. Yoo addressed my concern immediately and suggested purchasing hydroquinone 4% at his clinic to bleach the scar. )


2. I can see the graft placed in the tip of my nose. when I touch my tip, I can feel the edge and the shape of the graft.
( Here the big serious problem comes! After I mentioned this problem, Dr. Yoo carefully inspected my nose. He said to me that the graft was placed lower than it should be and it shouldn’t look like this. The projection of the tip should look better. He recommended revision surgery for tip.)

I really wasn’t expect or seek revision for this appointment. I thought the graft may absorb a little bit more overtime and it shouldn’t be a big problem. Unfortunately, I am the 5% unsuccessful case. I am not afraid to have my nose cut and sew one more time. but I really don’t want to have another incision scar in the back of my ear or in my previous rib incision part.

Dr. Yoo apologized to me and didn’t charge me fee for the revision surgery; but I need to pay $4500 for the operating room and anesthesia. I am not mad at him. I understand that even the most talented surgeon have failure case. It’s impossible to perfect every case.

last but not the least, I am going to do the revision surgery in next week. I truly truly hope the second time will have a great turnout.

I was planning to write review 2 months ago. But because after the surgery , it takes a long time to see any changes, I decided to wait for few more months. My tip is still swollen , and I believe it may take up to 2 years to see full result.
My revision with Dr. Yoo only involved my nose tip ( he was not successful to do it right in the first surgery). No complain about my bridge. After 1 year and 3 months, my bridge looks very natural. Right now, my nose tip looks a bit too long . Especially when I smile fully, my tip looks too long! Long nose tip make my entire nose look a bit too long. I don't like that.
My nose tip will change more in the next 6 months. So I will wait and then do my final review. I don't feel comfortable to share any pictures at this point. I will post picture when I feel my revision is fully recovered.
Few months ago, I have few people privately messaged me about how unhappy they felt after they had surgery with Dr. Yoo. I was not happy for few months as well. Since it takes a longer time for my tip to heal, I will not make my final judgement on Dr. Yoo's skill. If you are thinking about doing this surgery with him, please be aware that rhinoplasty is a BIG surgery, and please be prepare to take any potential risks. Be prepared just in case things may go wrong.
I am not sure if my nose tip will absorb more over time. But even if my nose job failed with him again this time, I will not pay any more money to do 3rd time surgery with him. Seriously, I paid $19500 total. I won't pay more!!
I hope my tip will absorb more in the next 6 months. If you want more details about my surgery, please feel free to message me. But don't ask for pictures. Thank you.

It has been 8 months since my second surgery with Dr. Yoo. My bridge looks perfect, and my tip is healing well. I hope in the next few months, my tip will continue to heal. I will update photos in another 6 months.