37 Years Old, Rhinoplasty and Chin Implant on the Books! - Seattle, WA

I feel bad for not posting along the way. So many reviews helped me before my surgery. I guess in the end I'm a pretty private person and a little paranoid about my info on the internet. But I definitely have to give credit where credit is due.
So my surgery was October 30th. It was scary to get through the night before, to show up, to submit to laying on the table and to the poke of the IV, but luckily at that very point all my choices were DONE. I woke up and did not feel pain, just groggy I think. I've been nauseous in the past after anesthesia, but they gave me some anti-nausea meds and I was so grateful that they worked. No nausea at any point. Also, I had confessed pre-surgery that I'm claustrophobic and phobic of stuffy noses, so Dr. Portuese gave me a steroid injection during surgery which also really worked. The whole time afterwards I could get air through my nose. Not a ton, mind you, but some! I was able to tolerate it without freaking out.
As I recall, I was able to eat later that evening and was pretty hungry. We were staying at a hotel, so my boyfriend went and got me some chicken with mole sauce. Probably not the low sodium diet I should have had, but it tasted very good. Hard to open my mouth though, so only took baby bites.
As far as pain goes, my chin was more uncomfortable than my nose. I took 1/2 of a hydrocodone/APAP 10/500mg every few hours for the first day or two, then weaned down. I think I was off pain pills by day 4. I know this is hindsight, but I really don't feel like it hurt very much (*if I didn't bump anything.) Like others have seemed to say, it was more uncomfortable than painful, with the splint on the nose and the swollen chin.
Oh yeah, it took awhile for the bleeding to quit on both my nose and chin. So be prepared with lots of gauze 4x4s.
Right after the surgery I was worried that the nose looked too pinched (well duh it's in a splint!) and that the chin was lopsided. I was so convinced that the implant wing had folded on one side, but I called the nurse the day after who reassured me that assymetrical swelling is normal. Turns out she was right- there is nothing assymetrical now about the chin :-)
One scary thing happened- Maybe one or two nights after the split came off, in the middle of the night, my boyfriend stretched his arms out and popped me in the nose. It woke me from sleep and HURT. We both FREAKED. I stared at my nose in the mirror and thought for sure one side was different than the other. I called the nurse the next day who again reassured me. In hindsight, what else could they really do at that point? Well, for awhile my nose did seem a little assymetrical, but I just tried to be patient and tell myself that a revision would fix anything. But luckily that thought went away and I don't feel that it's assymetrical anymore. I'll talk later about being patient for the results... But before I forget- I wish someone would have warned me about protecting my nose during sleep. After that incident, my boyfriend and I slept in separate beds for a week or so just to be safe. So after surgery, try your very best to protect your nose from every little bump! It's so tender! And it turns out, it's SO easy to bump.

OK, back to being patient. Dr. Portuese's office manager, Janet (who was awesome by the way) had warned me extensively about being patient for results. They said they don't even take after pictures for at least 6 months. I had to remind myself of that over and over. I think no matter what, even if you're the most patient person in the world, this is going to be hard. Just trust that your nose is going to change from day to day, week to week, and month to month even. So just do your best to be patient! Try to smile on those "good nose days" and try to just WAIT on less good nose days.

So in the end, I love both my nose and my chin. The word that comes to mind most often is "grateful". Of all the possible outcomes, I'm just so grateful that everything turned out so well. I probably won't post pictures (apologies!), but the chin and nose turned out pretty much like the mock up pictures that I was shown before surgery. I never would have thought that my shapeless bulbous nose could actually be cute and have definition. It was pretty much beyond my imagination. My chin really helps my side profile and pictures now don't seem to catch me looking like I have a double chin. The whole effect is much more balanced, while I still look like myself. I'm not saying I now have some celebrity's perfect nose, but that's not what I wanted nor was promised. I have my nose, but just WAY improved. It's more than I hoped for. Family and friends whom I didn't tell first never said anything and at least acted like they didn't notice. This is exactly what I was hoping for :)
Now to Dr. Portuese. I would recommend him to anyone. I will go back to him for any type of anti-aging procedure I might/will need in the future. He runs a tight ship: appointments were on time or early and the whole office ran very smoothly. I found him very approachable, straight-forward, and caring. His work speaks for itself- he is obviously very talented and skilled at what he does. This is apparent as he makes so many before and after photos available. This is someone who takes a lot of pride in what he does. And for this utmost level of professionalism and skill, I will be forever grateful. Just trust the care- they know what they're doing.
I also want to thank Janet Silver for being so warm, caring, and informative throughout the whole process, as well as Angela, Pam, Noel, Jamie and all the other staff who did a great job helping me through.

30 days until my surgery! So I guess it's time to finally post.

The journey up until I made my final decision to do this was pretty intense with lots of second guessing. Ultimately I have decided that it is an a-OK choice for me. I feel like it will help me reach my potential, so ultimately it will be worth the cost. My boyfriend is completely supportive as are the few family members I have told, so for that I am feeling lucky!

This review is supposed to be just about the rhinoplasty, so I when I get a chance I will try to do a separate review for the chin implant. I chose my surgeon, Dr. Portuese in Seattle, because of his extensive experience with noses. He also has quite a bit of experience with the nose/chin combo. He had lots of before and after photos that I feel are very natural looking. My consultation went very well. I'm an RN so I'm a little sensitive to patient care issues, and really I only felt reassured, and positive after the consult. Both Dr. Portuese and the patient coordinator spent more than ample time with me. I really liked the digital profile they were able to estimate. I only wish I could have seen a frontal version. Apparently with their technology they aren't able to do a very accurate frontal mock-up. I have a little bit of anxiety about that and plan to talk to them more about my goals for the front.

My nose is from my father and isn't very feminine. It has a bulbous, broad tip that gets even more so when I smile. From the side, I wouldn't say it's a hump, but the whole nose is convex. My goals are to eliminate the convexity and to make the tip more defined, cute and feminine. All of that without making the nose too small, since I tend to have full cheeks and too small of a nose I think would look weird.


I'll write more later and post pics at some point, but now I need to peruse all your reviews as I plan for how to prepare for this. I was super lucky to get 1 week off of work. As I understand, I have wedge pillows, neck pillows etc. to buy, liquid diets to plan, podcasts to download, and more!

One thing I'm gonna hate is not being able to exercise. I've been climbing 3 times a week. The doc's office said no exercise for 2 weeks (nothing that will raise pulse or blood pressure). Although I'm in denial, I think he said at least 1 month off of climbing to protect the nose!! :/ Anyone who has had this done, what were you told/did you do about exercise afterwards?