Rhinoplasty success! Dr. Portuese - Seattle, WA

I’ve been searching this website for a couple months now and decided to start sharing my own experience. I am a 33 year old mom of a 5 year old and a 2 year old. I became self conscious about my nose starting in about 5th grade when I got my first “witch nose” comment. The level of self consciousness has gone up and down over the years but I think right now I am actually more comfortable with myself than I have ever been before. That doesn’t mean I like my nose though! I don’t think about my nose on a daily basis (at least until I started researching, now all I see on people are noses ha!), however when I talk to someone about it like my husband or a family member I find myself getting very emotional. We will be moving sometime in the beginning of next year and I have decided I would love to show up with a new nose!

I currently live in North Dakota and was figuring I would have to travel a long distance for this procedure. I was excited to see that there was actually a "Top Doctor" within a couple hours from me so in trying to keep up with the momentum of my decision I contacted him for a consultation. Surprisingly they were able to get me in within a couple days. They were advertising a free consultation during the month of July on Facebook and advertised a free consultation on this website so luckily I did not have to pay. The office manager who smelled like cigarette smoke took me to the room since apparently the nurse was busy and there I waited for almost an hour before seeing the surgeon. While I was waiting I peeked my head out and asked the lady at the front desk if there was some kind of book of before and afters I could look at. She was like well I think so let me as someone else as if it wasn’t a routine request. The office manager came back with a sloppy looking 3 ring binder with only 3 patients in it and said these are the people who gave permission to show the photos. The photos were what I had already seen online and they weren't even arranged so that you could compare them side by side you had to flip pages. Some of them were zoomed in, some zoomed out so it was just overall unprofessional looking I thought for someone who supposedly has performed hundreds of rhinoplasties. I also thought that the final outcomes of those and a couple more I saw online looked too upturned. So anyway Dr. A came in and he was very nice and very confident in his abilities but didn’t really ask about me or what I wanted it was more of “we can fix that.” I told him my concern about an upturned nose and he said it WOULD be pushed up a little. He gave me a mirror and pushed up the end of my nose really slightly but to me it seemed like a huge difference in amount of nostril showing. He told me it would look better that way. I don't know if I'm over-focused on nostrils or if he just has a different aesthetic than me. I asked if he had more before and afters and he said just what was on his Instagram. He said that I can’t look at other people’s noses and expect mine to come out that way because I don’t have their nose to start with. Hmmm. I can see that logic somewhat but I think I can definitely get an idea of his work by looking at other before and afters. Seemed like a red flag to me. So anyway he took some 3D photos of me and told me he would email me with images of what it may look like after surgery. 2 weeks later I hadn’t received anything so emailed to ask about it. She said he hadn’t done it yet and would remind him. A month later I still have received no pictures. A definite no-go for more than one reason!

So because of my location I have no choice but to travel for this procedure. For logistics I narrowed it down to looking at surgeons in Minneapolis (long drive but do-able) or Spokane or Seattle (still would have to drive but I have family in Washington which helps a lot whereas no family here!). I don't know who I would go to in Minneapolis but in Seattle I would like to check out Dr. Portuese. On a whim I went outside of that and scheduled a consultation with Dr. Wayne in Oklahoma City. I have only been able to find good things about him so I figured what the heck. So I can't believe I am actually doing it but I'm flying there for an appt on Sept 18 and coming back the next day. Honestly I am SUPER excited to be in a hotel room by myself and get a full nights sleep without kids waking me up at all hours of the night! =D