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.