My experience with Dr. Yavrouian was excellent!

My experience with Dr. Yavrouian was excellent!
The consultation was smooth and simple, he was able to help me plan out what I wanted, and found time to actually move forward with my surgery within a week (at my request). He has been very friendly and easy to work with, and the appointments and follow-ups are always quick and uncomplicated. And of course, the results are everything I hoped for (looks great), and more (he made it easier for me to breath by fixing my deviated septum, which I didn't realize I needed until after it was done).
Granted, this is my first cosmetic surgery and it was a rhinoplasty that didn't involve anything major, so perhaps there's more to it for more complicated cases, but my experience has been that other than the first week of recovery, everything was way more simple than I expected it to be. I'll break down what I mean by that, in case it helps anyone out there who is considering a rhinoplasty and is not sure what to expect.
- Consultation -
Dr. Yavrouian and I had a chat about what I was hoping for, he took some photos, then popped over to his office to work on the plans. He came back maybe 20 minutes later with a printout of my photos, side-by-side with modified photos of what I would potentially look like after surgery.
I loved it, he gave me a quote for what the cost would be (approx. $9k), and then we went ahead and scheduled my surgery with the office. After taking the photos home I realized I had a slight modification I wanted to request, so I called the office and they had me come in the next day. I saw Dr. Yavrouian again, we talked about it and this time he actually had me come into his office as he updated the photo of what they would try to achieve during the surgery. It took all of 5 minutes to come up with the final version, based on both what I wanted and what was anatomically possible (haha). I felt great knowing that my request was immediately listened to and that we would be on the same page going into surgery.
Then I had to get some bloodwork and a physical done (at a nearby office that Dr. Yavrouian's office helped get me in contact with) to make sure I was healthy enough for the procedure, which I was also able to do within the 1-week period between my consultation and the surgery. Normally we would have more time to get these things scheduled, but my decision to have a surgery was very last-minute and was time-sensitive, so we crammed everything into the one week. Luckily the places they referred me to were able to accommodate the need for quick turnaround, so I got the results of the bloodwork and physical just in time.
During this time, there was a lot of paperwork with instructions on things I needed to do or buy for my pre and post-op preparations (pre-op involved a nasal ointment I was prescribed, which I was to apply nightly for 1 week prior, plus Arnicare pellets and antibiotics 1-2 days before surgery). Then came the day of the surgery!
- Surgery -
The building where the surgical center is located is right next door to where Dr. Yavrouian's office is, so it was nice to already be familiar with the area and parking situation. The waiting room was clean and professional, with a TV, but it's pretty small and doesn't seat a lot of people, and not a lot of options for food around. So if you have friends/family that want to accompany you or wait for you to be released, make sure to take those circumstances into account.
I got there at 6:30am, I forget what time the actual surgery was scheduled for though--either 7am 7:30am, I'm guessing. It was pretty soon after filling out some forms that I was called in and the preparation process began. The nurses were professional and super friendly as they came by to give me my gown to change into, and set me up for vitals and IV (or whatever the needle is called where the anesthetic will be hooked into). The pre/post-op beds are in the same area separated by privacy curtains, so as I passed I saw someone whose whole face was wrapped in bandages, and I got nervous that that's what it would be like for me, but they assured me that my procedure would be much more simple.
I had Dr. Yavrouian come by and check on me a couple times and introduced me to some of those who would be in the surgery room with him. I believe he went by to speak with my mother and husband as well, since he knew they were in the waiting room. That was nice to hear, since my mother is the worrying type, so actually meeting my surgeon was very reassuring for her.
I don't remember how long it took, but at some point the time came, I was transferred to the surgical table, anesthesia was administered, and other than cracking a joke, I don't remember anything after that (as expected). I didn't wake up until somewhere between noon and 2pm, and as promised, my face was not covered in bandages, haha. My brain and my reflexes were very slow, of course, due to the anesthesia and/or pain killers. I believe the nurses offered to help me to the restroom if I needed it. When I was awake, my mother and husband were allowed in one-at-a-time to come see me. Dr. Yavrouian had already spoken to them in the waiting room, so they knew the procedure went perfectly, and they had instructions for what I would need next.
The office was able to get the last of my prescriptions filled at the pharmacy in the hospital next door, which my husband went down to pick up while it was my mom's turn to check in on me. I was discharged and heading home by 3:30pm. :) I wish I remember how long they said the surgery itself took, but between driving in and driving out, it was 9 hours.
I felt no pain whatsoever, not before, not during, nor even after surgery. The incision itself was very small, just in that little bit of flesh between the nostrils. The main issue was discomfort, and I'll go into that as well.
- Recovery -
The only reason I'm going into details is in case it helps someone who is considering rhinoplasty understand what's involved. I had mentally prepared myself for pain, because of course a surgery would be painful. But it turns out I didn't feel pain at all. Great!
But pain isn't the only factor, it turns out. There is a lot of inconvenience, but above all, the discomfort was the worst part, and it was two-fold for me because I had to work around the fact that I sleep on my stomach (and applying ANY pressure to your nose is very big on the "THINGS NOT TO DO" list after rhinoplasty).
The inconvenient stuff includes things like: No bending down or lifting things for a few days, no wearing glasses for 6 weeks minimum, no strenuous exercise for 1-2 months, no contact sports for 4-ish months, try to avoid sun (if possible) for 1 month, no pullover clothing until bandage is removed, having to apply saline nasal drops 3x/day (which required me to sit or lay in a way my head could be upside-down) AND apply nasal ointment 3x/day AND take antibiotics 3x/day AND apply another ointment to the incision 2x/day, AND take Arnicare pellets 5x a day, and also finding things I wanted to eat that didn't involve opening your mouth too wide or chewing very strenuously was tricky once I got into day 3 or 4 and was tired of liquids and bananas and yogurt. These were things that were not fun, but somewhat expected and not particularly difficult, so I was fine with these things.
As for the discomfort: First and most obvious, you bleed A LOT. Not from the incision, mine was so miniscule I couldn't even find it at first (it was half an inch at most, maybe even smaller--at the base of the flesh between nostrils). So the majority of the bleeding comes form inside the nose, and they put gauze up in there, but the gauze (at least for me) gets soaked with blood immediately; I'm guessing it's mostly there to limit how much blood comes out of your nose and onto your lip/mouth. There is also "moustache" gauze to help soak the blood there, and you need to change it pretty frequently for the first couple days, but also your nose ends up full of dry blood and you just have to leave it there.
The part I was really not expecting was the stilts. I'm not sure if they're used on every case of rhinoplasty, but they were used in mine. They're pieces that go up your nose, I'm guessing to support the shape during the early stages of recovery. They were put in before I woke up, so I didn't even know they were in there for the first day or two. Between those and the dry blood, air is completely blocked from passing through (you're supposed to breath through your mouth for a while, but even without planning to breath through my nose, that level of blockage was shocking to the senses), so imagine a non-cushioned thing shoved very far up your nose, plus the worst congestion you've ever experienced.
Lastly, another uncomfortable part of the whole process was never applying pressure to my nose, even during sleep. Hopefully this isn't bad for most people, but since I've always slept on my stomach, there was a worry that after falling asleep on my back, I'd unconsciously flip back onto my stomach and put the full weight of my head onto my nose as my face hits the pillow. To avoid this, I reclined my bed up into what was almost a sitting position, since any further back would be a position in which I could conceivably still flip over onto my stomach.
Between the feeling of intense congestion, blood slowly dripping onto the gauze on my lip, meds, and an incredibly uncomfortable sleeping position, I only slept in fits of about an hour at a time for the first day, very uncomfortably, before jolting awake. The second day I tried reclining the bed a few inches further back, and I could sleep about 2-3 hours at a time, but every time I'd wake up feeling completely miserable.
By the third and fourth day I was getting used to sleeping in that position, so I think I was sleeping a more manageable 5 hours overnight, but still not a good nights sleep. The lack of sleep and congestion was making every little inconvenience feel that much more frustrating. This also may have been when I started semi-hallucinating after waking up while it was still dark (our plant in the corner looked like a monster to me, things like that). I felt so generally awful that I started to wonder if it would have been better not to do the surgery at all.
Mercifully, after 5 nights of this, it was time for my first post-op appointment and the stilts were taken out!! It was amazing how much better I felt after being able to take a breath through my nose. Dr. Yavrouian also cleared out the tried blood for me, and the bleeding was pretty minimal by this point, AND fixing my deviated septum had opened up my passages, so I literally went from painfully congested to clearest breath of air I've ever taken in about 10 minutes.
I no longer doubted going through with the surgery, and those damned stilts were hopefully gonna be burned and never come near me again! I got a clean new bandage for my nose, I no longer had to wear the moustache gauze, and I got my first peek at what I'll look like once the bandages are off, which both Dr. Yavrouian and I were excited about, so this was the real turning point. :)
I got my first night of sleep without waking up (6-7 hours) once the stilts were out. My newly unclogged nose was pretty sniffly for a few days, which made for an annoyance when my family came over for a movie and a meal, but still a huge improvement from having the stilts in. I also started reclining the bed further back each night, until eventually it only needed to be elevated about a foot higher than being completely flat, at which point sleeping was no longer interrupted. (I only changed the bed to be completely flat 1-2 months after surgery, when I was sure my body had gotten used to sleeping face-up.)
There was some bruising around my eyes, but it wasn't painful. At first it just looked like my under-eyes were just a bit darker than usual, but then when it started yellowing that's when I realized how much of that darkness had been bruising. It was all gone less than 2 weeks post-op.
Oh, I did forget to mention one thing in relation to pain. I didn't experience pain or soreness from the surgery itself, but one time about 3 weeks after surgery, a cupboard door hit my nose very lightly as I was opening it, and DAMN THAT HURT. So in addition to not wanting to put pressure on the nose to avoid complications, you also want to avoid bopping it on anything for a good 2 months because it REALLY hurts. You'll figure it out the first time you try blowing your nose post-op (which you're not allowed to do for the first couple weeks anyway).
- Follow-up Appointments -
I had my first follow-up 5 days post-op, which is the one where they removed my stilts, no more moustache gauze, and they cleaned out my nostrils. My next follow-up was 6 days later, again they cleared out the gunk in my nose, and this time they took out what remained of the stitches on the (very small) incision, and I no longer had to wear bandages at all!
I had another follow-up 9 days later, pretty much just to check that everything was healing okay. Dr. Yavrouian also gave me a small injection on the nose to help reduce swelling. Now I still go in for follow-ups only once every 3 months, just to check on the progress and again give an injection to reduce swelling.
Tbh I don't notice any swelling anymore, but maybe in a year's time I'll look at old photos and see the difference.
- The Results -
I didn't ask for anything dramatic so it might not be a big deal to most people, but to me how I look now has made me immeasurably happy!! The improvement to my breathing was unexpected, but super appreciated. I can't believe I went my whole life not knowing it could be this way.
I didn't think to get my own before-and-after photos, so I did my best to dig up some of the only photos I have where I'm not wearing glasses. The after photos are from a couple days ago, almost 9 months post-op. I also attached the before-and-after from Dr. Yavrouian's photos that we took in his office. Take a look for yourself!
The last nice photos (with the plants in the background) are just for fun, taken just 19 days after the surgery. These show how happy I was the first time I was able to really see the full effect of the change. I'm so glad I went through with it...thanks, Dr. Yavrouian!