Nearly Flawless Experience! - Seattle, WA

First off, I want to clarify that I also got a chin implant at the same time as the rhinoplasty. In writing this review, I am 1 week away from it being 3 months since my procedure. I was told by Dr. Portuese that it would be about 3 months before I would truly begin to have an idea of what my end result will look like.

I have been self conscious about my profile since a young teenager and now that I was 30, I realized this was not just some phase I was going through as it has still continued to bother me.

I got to take the pictures home with me and I would look at them almost every night before I went to bed. I noticed I found myself really liking how the additional chin projection looked and was able to get over in mind the idea of a foreign object being there. So, I ended up deciding to go through with both procedures.

Both procedures went smoothly. I believe I was under for an hour and 20 min. After coming out of it, I did throw up blood by the time I reached the car. They get you all set up with a bag, a nose pad that is held up to go underneath your nose and around you head so your hands are free. Even with the cast on my nose, I could see it was a lot smaller already. My chin was pretty heavily swollen. Surprisingly, I did not take any pain killers (the nurse was shocked by this). Being a naturopathic medicine student, I decided to take homeopathic arnica, bromelain and quercetin post surgery. I also made herbal teas that decrease inflammation and speed up the healing process (lavender, calendula, gotu kola, etc.). I'm not sure if I was just lucky or if all that I did really helped, but either way I seemed to have a very fast recovery.

Before the procedures, Dr. P had mentioned I wouldn't look much different from the front and I remember telling him I didn't want to really look different from the front. However, I have to say I feel I do look quite a bit different from the front. But to my surprise, I really like how I look! My nose looks quite a bit smaller from the front, there's this extra space now between my nose and my lips that wasn't there before, and the chin just shows a little projection with a little chin indentation in the front. The jawline is also a little more defined. If I were to look at before and after pictures from the front, my facial features are now much more in proportion than they were before. The side view is also very dramatically different (What I really wanted! The improved frontal view just ended up being an unexpected bonus). My nose has a very smooth slope now and is now more slightly turned up without at all being pigish (my nose before went a little forward and now it doesn't). My nose honestly looks perfectly sculpted. It is absolutely incredible what he has done with it. I could never have imagined what an amazing job he has done. I am unable to identify a single flaw and yet at nearly 3 months, it will only get better. The tip of the nose still has some slight swelling that will go away in time, but I'm the only one that notices it I'm sure. The chin implant has stayed in place and it feels like I'm touching solid bone when I touch it. The swelling is completely gone, but there is some leftover tingling on the right side of my lower lip and chin. Unfortunately, it is possible that this will never go away. Even if that's the case, I'm pretty sure I won't have it removed. Unless I bring my attention to it, I don't even notice the decreased sensation that is there. It is actually bothering me less than I thought it would.

While I feel I look quite a bit different (while still feeling like it's me), none of my acquaintances at school have said anything to me. I did inform two of my close friends and they have both told me that they notice a difference for sure so I'm not sure if the people at school just are too self-involved to notice or if they do and are just not saying anything. While my immediate family members are aware I've had this done, none of my extended family is aware and I have yet to see them. I will be seeing them at the 6 month mark and am very curious to see what their reaction will be. In a way, I'm glad no one has said anything so far, because what really matters is that I notice it and it makes me feel better.

While it's still early, so far I've noticed that my self consciousness about my profile has completely evaporated. I also noticed not being as reluctant to have my picture taken (though maybe in the beginning while my nose was still swollen. By the way, if you get rhinoplasty done, be prepared to feel like your nose looks like a pancake for a while. There won't be really any true shape to it while it's healing. I felt like Mrs. Potato head for awhile and my nose always felt like it was so fragile like glass. It's strange to suddenly start seeing bone structure appear themselves over time while you are watching it heal. The chin implant also created a lot of swelling all up around the side of my face as well. Initially, I felt like I didn't look like myself and was worried that while everything may look good by itself, I didn't like how things were coming together. Well, as the swelling starts to go down, everything started to come together beautifully). So how has it changed my life so far? Just enough. It's still me, just an improved version of myself. Everything looks so natural. Dr. Portuese truly has quite the gift.

What do I wish I knew beforehand? Well, there were a few surprises along the way. Not many though. The biggest surprise was that I felt I looked different from the front view right away and again, I wasn't expected much of a change there. Also, I'm realizing that it takes time for things to settle. Having surgery on your face is still surgery and is traumatic to the body. It takes a while for everything to settle. Give it time. You may not like the outcome at first; be patient as that will change as the swelling goes down and more healing takes place.

The cost below includes rhinoplasty AND chin implant. Rhinoplasty alone would have cost $6985.00