Open tip revision rhinoplasty experience with Mr Ion so far

I will like to be as informative as possible so sorry for the lopng post.
Technique: open tip rhinoplasty with Rib Cartilage Graft + PDS plates

Pix 1 and 2 : 8 dpo
(Left : clinical pictures -cropped and eyes obscured- Right: 8 dpo - no make up and all bruises on show)
Pix 3: is the swelling BEFORE it reached its peak! (i could not really open my eyes after then so did not make a morbid reportage)

BASELINE
I was referred to mr Ion by the surgeon who performed my hairline lowering.
9 years after primary my nose was short, over-scooped and pinched, undefined and over-rotated tip.
I Was self conscious of my profile but ok with front view.
various doctors had confirmed that my cartilage would have kept wearing off.
I did not hate my nose and I was not botched, but felt uncomfortable with how underprojected my tip was.
I still wanted a slight slope and an upturned tip but more defined and projected. My front was good to me and it was the part that scared me the most ( only because I had not thought about face swelling !)
I had sent morphs I had made mself to mr Ion prior to the meeting to give an idea of what I did not like about my nose.

FEEDBACK (so far) ON MR. ION:
So far I can only say good things about mr Ion.
I met many surgeons in life, but mr Ion really is special (in a good way) .

He is not the kind of surgeon who lives on social media or posts about this or that celebrity visiting the clinic, nor is he self- inflated . He does not advertise. you won’t see a gallery of endless pix and patients selfies on his IG but if you go for consultation, his clinical portfolio is vaste.

Mr Ion was the only surgeon I felt I could trust with my nose.
He really listens, to understand what’s important to you and your desired outcome. I’d say he wants to see things through your eyes, in this sense.
For example, for our last consultation a month before surgery, I brought a sort of power point presentation (lol) which explained with images what I wanted vs what I did not want for my nose . He went through each single point I had included in it with me ( it was like 4 pages lol)

So far, he’s done everything he said he would.
Super knowledgeable about noses, he has an artistic eye for nostrils and the interplay between the areas of the nose.
He has a good visual of how light reflects on nasal features so that these are enhanced indirectly .

He has given me 3-4 consultations (50ish minutes each) - never rushed anything - and he's the only surgeon who produced a front morph and a 3/4 morph.
He really does show care and has a sense of how challenging this surgery might be from an emotional standpoint. At day 2 or 3, after I reached out via email when my anxiety about swelling reached a peak, he called me after working hours to reassure me and to explain what I could do to manage the swelling on my eyes before cast off.

I really very much appreciated that he removed my cast himself.

The journey so far:
Day 1-4:
massive swelling, could barely open my eyes and was purple. It was a lot worse than primary rhinoplasty bruising and swelling

Day 4-9 (cast off at day 7):
swelling went from eyes to the lower face. difficult days.
swollen nose + swollen face lost face contour so the whole lower face + new nose looked super super weird.
I did have moments of panic and these were (so far) the most difficult days.

CAST OFF : I liked my nose at cast off for around 5 minutes, then it swelled up a lot ( I knew this would happen ). Nevertheless I can see the potential in my swollen nose.
Day 7 and 8 were challenging because I saw my face felt like distorted because of the swelling that made it more difficult to move my mouth
Also I could not move my upper lip at all in the central part ( but now at day 11 this is better)

Day 10-11:
Swelling (face) has started to subside. Today (day 11) is the first day I feel a bit better. my nose is still very swollen and will be for a while but I like the structure I can see, and i hope it will fit my face.

Pix are from 3 days ago ( I am swollen both in my nose and face and have bruises so self conscious posting a fulll front face). I had just put some cream on my columella and was too lazy to retake a pix without it


SUMMARY ( early stages of healing)

Good so far:
- mr Ion
- Dr Aubrey Bristow ( the anaesthetising doctor - he was great in explaining everything and did so in a very enjoyable way)
- Laura ( patient coordinator) is always available if you need anything

- scar already incospicuous 11 days post op
- softer philtrum because he projected the tip and this changed the angle lip/tip. (First rhinoplasty had flattened my philtrum a lot. This happened soon after my primary)

Bad points:
- wild swelling … way wilder than first rhinoplasty.
- face swelling + nose swelling really made me see my face distorted in the first days ( including 2 days after cast off) I had really underestimated the swelling

Points IMO worth thinking about:
- revision rhinoplasty is a long journey in which physical, psychological, and emotional aspects are very much intertwined. At this time, I am finding that the sensorial experience of taking care of post-op nose ( massaging it, taping it etc) helps familiarise with it. I feel this is very important to keep continuity with the changes that occur during the very long healing, especially if your primary nose was not botched.
- I personally find it fascinating that a piece of of my ribs (cartilage) is now in my nose but I have a taste for morbid details.

Quick update ( 16 dpo)

I have been taping around 20-22 hourse per day ( I preferred taping more rather than less and it made/makes me feel safer that people will be less clumsy in public spaces if I have my nose taped) and today was the first day I went outside without tape .
facial swelling is better
Nasal swelling is also a bit better compared to 9 days ago.

I had a taping-related sign on my skin couple of days ago, and mr Ion advised how to manage the taping so that the pressure gets dispersed a bit ( by making small cuts perpendicular to the edge of the tape. These cuts have to face downwards toward the tip). It did help very much indeed.


At the moment I can only note that I feel very tired most of the time ( but I just finished with antibiotics and hopefully this will get better), also my skin and hair quite stressed/dry by both anaesthesia and antibiotics.

I guess I am just in the "Purgatory" stage, that is, the unique timeframe in surgical recovery between the initial/acute recovery phase and the final result.
This is a 'limbo' time where you progress towards the more stable result but still don't 100% love exactly where you're at, and you just have to get through it.
PS
no the term 'Purgatory stage' is not my invention, I borrowed it, but it conveys the feeling quite well IMO

(Forgot to attach pictures with a similar light in previous update)

"Purgatory" stage: the timeframe in surgical recovery between the initial/acute recovery phase and the final result- a 'limbo' time where you progress towards the more stable result but still don't 100% love exactly where you're at, and you just have to get through it.
In my case, I can feel the dryness from antibiotics and GA, still have a very mild swelling/bruising in the face, and of course my nose is still healing.
PS
the term 'Purgatory stage' is not my invention, I borrowed it, but it conveys the feeling quite well IMO