Amazing Experience with Dr. Kassir!

I guess I'll start this review off by saying a rhinoplasty is something that's been on the back of my mind since high school (so for almost 20 years), but never something I had seriously considered until very recently.
I'll be the first to admit- my pre-op nose was honestly NOT THAT BAD, which is probably why I waited so long to look into surgery. My nose didn't give me anxiety, and didn't make me super self conscious in my day to day life, so realistically it was something I could have easily lived with and been fine about. My pre-op profile was absolutely fine, I'm lucky in that I had no humps or bumps to worry about, no visual crookedness, etc. The only things that bothered me a bit was fullness at my tip from straight on, as well as wide-ish nostrils and a slightly droopy tip when smiling.
I started following Dr. Kassir on instagram a while back, and was always impressed with what I saw... even for patients that had subtle changes done.
Anyways - on why I finally inquired with Dr. Kassir. So, I'm a photographer and I own my own photography business... and it may seem silly- but in my industry it's super important in this day and age as a small business owner to connect with your clients/prospective clients on a personal level, and to do it often, and the easiest way to cultivate that familiarity is through social media.... Dr. Kassir is a pro at this! (more on that later!) and I often take self portraits/selfies for my IG story/post behind the scenes photos of me shooting to my business social media. So anyways, with that in mind and because of my job, I found myself falling into the habit of making the same subtle photoshop adjustments to my nose in photos (because it takes me all of 2 seconds...), I finally just thought- well. I could actually just get this 'adjusted' in real life... and I already knew the perfect doctor I could trust for the job. That's what finally drove me to reach out and schedule a consultation.
I filled out an inquiry form on Dr. Kassir's website on 12/26/19, and Maya promptly reached out to schedule a video consultation with me for about 2 weeks later.
I had my video consultation with Maya on 1/16/2020 where we talked about my goals and she answered any questions I had regarding the surgery and logistics as I would be traveling in from out of town, and was able to give me a quote the same day.
We did discuss availability, and I realized I did reach out pretty last minute... His surgical schedule was booked up several months in advance... and I only had a limited window in which I could realistically have the surgery and have enough down-time for recovery before I had clients and events to cover for work. Maya was great and so understanding- we emailed for a few days afterwards (just random questions I had regarding pricing etc, which were always answered quickly!), and she let me know she would reach out if something opened up that worked with my schedule.
Maya reached out on the 23rd of January (1 week after my initial consult) to let me know that she was able to fit me in to Dr Kassir's schedule the following month, and I was so thrilled they were able to accommodate me, otherwise honestly I probably would have shelved the whole idea and not remembered to follow up in time to schedule something for next year.. haha.
By Jan 29th, my retainer was paid and my surgery was officially scheduled for February 26th, 2020.
The following few weeks were a whirlwind as I had to find a new primary care dr. to complete my medical clearance, and schedule psych. eval, which Maya and Nikole from Dr. Kassir's office were so helpful and referred me to someone they worked closely with to complete the psych clearance portion.
I flew in to New York on the morning of Tuesday 2/25 and had my for my pre op appointment at 2pm. I filled out various forms and had pictures taken before my pre-op consult with Dr. Kassir. Ok- so back to what I was saying earlier about the importance of connecting with your clients via social media- Dr. Kassir is great at this and often posts stories and Instagram live videos with his patients, and it was the weirdest thing- but because I had followed him for so long, the moment he stepped into the room- it genuinely felt like I already knew him!
Right off the bat he did acknowledge that while I didn't have a 'bad nose' to start with- and I appreciate his honesty! But I felt assured that he still understood the changes I was looking to make, and more importantly he assured me that my goals were realistic and he didn't make me feel silly for wanting surgery to begin with. (important side note- I had one previous rhinoplasty consultation with a surgeon in Chicago before I reached out to Dr Kassir, and it didn't go well. The Chicago surgeon was super arrogant and dismissive and honestly, I left that consultation feeling stupid and like that doctor thought my goals for surgery were dumb/unnecessary.... not the best feeling.) The difference between this consultation with Dr. Kassir and my previous chicago consultation was like night and day, and I knew immediately I had made the right decision in coming to Dr. Kassir!!!
This is getting super long, so I'm going to end this initial post with just some before pics and examples of my surgical goals- and continue the following post with my experience on surgery day and recovery.
*********Also - as I'm choosing pre-op pics to upload, I keep feeling compelled to say that I KNOW MY NOSE IS NOT 'BAD'.... I honestly think my initial appointment with the Chicago surgeon made me feel so bad for even inquiring about rhinoplasty, and it's sad. Patients shouldn't be made to feel stupid or silly for wanting a change, and I think that initial chicago consultation left me feeling really dumb and insecure about my decision to look into rhinoplasty.
I had the complete opposite experience when talking with Dr Kassir, and he didn't make me feel stupid about wanting surgery- no matter how small or seemingly insignificant my goals were compared to other rhinoplasty cases. I'm going to try to stop minimizing my desire to get this in the first place, because no matter how small- my goals were valid, and Dr. Kassir was great at reassuring me in that.

Wanted to include a separate post including my goal pics, I made this collage for Dr Kassir with some examples of the tip definition/lift I was looking for. Obviously all of the women in the collage are stunning, LOL... but they all have the cute, thin, defined nose I was hoping for. Also adding a quick facetuned selfie demonstrating those changes.

I arrived at the Park Ave office the following morning at 7:30am, and was promptly taken back to go over any remaining paperwork and consent forms with my nurse Aneesa (who was wonderful btw!), change, and chat with the anesthesiologist. I knew my surgery wouldn't begin until at least 9am, so I brought my iPad with me and was able to work while I waited. My pre-op pics taken the day before were displayed on a screen in the room, Maya was kind enough to send those to me later so I'll also include those here. When the time came, Dr. Kassir came into the room, we chatted for a few minutes and went over my goals for the surgery once more before heading into the OR. I woke up what seemed like seconds later in recovery feeling fine, just a bit groggy as the anesthesia wore off. Aneesa let me know the surgery went well, and checked on me here and there as I woke up. I think she said the surgery started around 9:30, and took less than 2hrs. (so ended around 11:15/11:30 I believe?) By 12:15 I was fully alert, and I honestly felt completely fine at this point. One thing I forgot to mention- I traveled to NY alone for the surgery, none of my family and friends were able to make it last minute because it fell in the middle of the work week on a Wednesday. But- because of all of the 1day post-op instagram lives I had seen on Dr. Kassir's page with every single patient in great shape/saying they had zero pain- I was confident my surgery would be a breeze and was not worried at all to come alone. Maya let me know I would still need to have someone accompany me from the office to my hotel- and it was SO helpful that they are able to accommodate out-of-state patients in arranging transportation/help getting back to your hotel in advance of your surgery. The fee for that is $250, which was completely reasonable. I got back to my hotel quickly, around 12:45pm. (I stayed at the Franklin Hotel about 5 minutes away to save a bit on hotel costs, but there are several hotels right across the street from the Dr's office that are an option too.) I felt fine, but went to sleep for a few hours when I got back. At 4pm, I got a call from Dr. Kassir's office to check in on how I was feeling and answer any questions I had about medications. They also asked if I had taken any pain medication (extra strength Tylenol), I hadn't needed any as I had NO PAIN at all, which was awesome! (I also realized that I had forgotten to bring it with me- whoops! but it wasn't an issue at all!) I ordered UberEats a bit later, and actually was feeling completely fine to walk across the street to grab some Gatorade, tylenol, and random snacks from CVS. Watched movies and just relaxed the rest of the night. I only had to change my drip gauze a few times- I was actually shocked at how little bleeding I had. The only time there was visible bleeding was when I was brushing my teeth later/moving my mouth around, and even then it was only a few drops. Falling asleep that night was fine, but staying asleep was a bit hard. I had packing in my nostrils and had to breathe out of my mouth, and I kept accidentally closing my mouth in my sleep and waking myself up- I must have woken up at least 10 times that night, but overall the entire day of surgery went very smoothly and I had no pain at all! I had an appointment the following morning at 7:45am to remove packing before I headed back to Chicago! Will post more later :)