Rhinoplasty: Polly-beak Deformity, Drop Tip/Hump Correction (MTF)

I had a great experience with a previous procedure with Dr. K. So when I started looking for a Rhinoplasty surgeon, I had to include him again in my search. I ended up choosing him because of his extensive experience in Rhinoplasty/Septoplasty. Where other surgeons I talked to said they did 5-10 a year, Dr. K. stated he does 30+ a year. The questions he asked, his descriptions of his intended methods and discussion of the potential risks made it clear to me he had the expertise that I was looking for.

As you can see in the photos, I had a few issues I wanted corrected. I had a low hump and drop tip which multiple surgeons referred to as a polly-beak deformity. Also I had a very bulbous tip that I wanted reduced. I showed Dr. K. the computer generated photo I did as a potential goal and he felt it was realistic and achievable.

His bedside manner is one of the reasons I trust him so much. The day of surgery, he came in for a final discussion while I was being prepped. He spent a good amount of time re-explaining the complete surgical approach and answered all sorts of final questions I had. He made me feel at ease despite a lot of anxiety I was feeling.

The surgery went well and so far the recovery has been ok. I have almost no bruising at all which compared to many other first week recovery photos I've seen is definitely not the norm. Also, even though I still have the external cast on I can already see the difference his work is making in my appearance. I'm very happy about that. There hasn't been much in terms of pain either. In fact I only took the pain meds for the first day and following morning of recovery.

On thing I will admit however, is that the discomfort of the splints in my nose and the crusty blood is far worse than I imagined. If there was anything Dr. K. and his team could have done better it would have been to give me a better expectation of just how much the first week of recovery sucks.

So far at 5 days post-op I'm super happy overall. I'm really looking forward to my 1 week follow-up when I should be getting the splints and external cast removed. While I've been told there will still be considerable swelling at that point, I think it will still be a vast improvement over my before pics. I'll update my pics after each of my follow-ups.

Went in for my one week follow-up. Found out from Dr. K. that in addition to reducing my turbinates, he also removed a small bone spur and also corrected a small deviation in my septum. He removed the cast first and when he saw his handy work, did a little happy dance (that was a good sign). Then it was time for the moment I'd been waiting for, time to get rid of those damn splints!! When I mentioned that I had watched videos of others having theirs taken out, he mentioned how frustrating those videos are for him because the techniques used were so wrong and caused more discomfort than necessary. Well I think he was right. They came out super easy with no real discomfort at all and very little mess. Once they were out? OMG I can breathe like I've never been able to before!! It is so wonderful. After some cleanup, he removed the stitches and checked out the final product. Finally, I got my chance to look in the mirror. I cried!! Even though there is still considerable swelling, especially at the tip, the difference is amazing. I'm finally rid of that horrible nose that I have hated for so many years. The reason I would shy away from front-on selfies (the wide-angle distortion always highlighted that big bulbous monstrosity) and side profile shots (where you could see the Polly-beak). I already feel so much better taking pictures of myself and I feel like my overall facial appearance has really improved.

Can't wait to see what the coming months bring but for now, here are front and profile comparison shots of the progress already.

Had my one month follow-up with surgeon. Everything is looking very good. The swelling is down quite a bit, the bulk of swelling is around the tip of my nose and the cartilage between the nostrils. I'm now cleared to return to physical activity, I can blow my nose and as you can see in my update photo, I'm finally allowed to wear sunglasses again.