Septoplasty, Rhinoplasty, Turbinate Reduction with Dr. Jin

Now that it's been a year and 9 months since the surgery, I'm posting an update with the before and after photos. I waited until now to make sure all the swelling was resolved so that I could get an accurate comparison.

As you can see from the photos, there isn't a huge difference visually with a neutral expression, but you can see that the nose tip is slightly rotated up and the nose bridge has the tiniest ski slope in the after shot. The much bigger difference can be seen when smiling, as the nose tip no long drops down as it did before. I didn't want a big difference in the appearance of my nose. My main concern aesthetically was that the tip was starting to droop a little so I wanted to shore it up and make sure it didn't droop further, and I also wanted to improve the appearance when smiling.

The real point of the surgery, of course, was to improve the function, and that aim has definitely been achieved. I can breathe much more easily than before, and I don't suffer from a constantly blocked nose anymore.

The final verdict is that I am very happy with the outcome of the surgery and would recommend Dr Jin to anyone looking to improve the function or appearance of their nose.

I must be the unluckiest person alive. I dropped my phone (iPhone XS with a heavy bumper) squarely on my nose tip while reading lying in bed. Fair to say, I completely freaked out. It's almost midnight on Sunday night, so the only thing I could do was to email the surgeon's office, but I am so worried that I don't think I will fall asleep tonight. Argh, it's been a mere 10 days since the surgery, and the phone could literally have fallen anywhere else on my nose apart from the tip and been fine. The tip is the one part that needs to be protected, and of course it's where I get hit. I'm already having visions in my head of the corrective surgery I'm going to need to fix this. There is swelling on the tip and just above it, the tip is rounder than before the accident, and I also think the angle of the tip has dropped a bit, but I'm not sure if if I'm imagining it. I'm literally about to cry.

My feelings so far since getting the splint, stitches and the weird plastic things removed from my nose two days ago:
1. I can breathe better than I ever remember. The air just goes through, whereas before the surgery, I always felt that there was some obstruction somewhere. There were times I would blow my nose and nothing would come out, and yet, my nose was so blocked no air would enter. I get a lot of clear mucus still, but as long as I clear it, my nose is like an open tunnel. Loads of people seem to say they couldn't breathe properly until several weeks out from surgery, so this is a really pleasant surprise. I also never knew what I was missing out on by not being able to breathe properly. I had got so used to not being able to breathe, that I just didn't realise things could be this way.
2. The swelling in the nose is going down very gradually. There are no 'step changes', just a drip-by-drip kind of change that's continually happening. I really hope to see a supratip break appear soon, but I know it's early days and I'm trying not to focus on it.
3. I anxiously examine my nose for any negative changes because I've read (and seen on YouTube) so many cases where the nose looks great immediately after surgery but then goes wrong over the subsequent months. Curving to one side, collapsing, rotting, etc. Serious problems. Those kinds of stories petrify me, and I feel that I will always be on the look out for the first signs of anything like that happening.
4. As far as the cosmetic side of my surgery was concerned, I wanted an ultra natural result. I considered my surgery as a functional surgery with a tiny cosmetic alteration, so I wasn't looking for a dramatic change in the appearance at all. In fact, I wanted the change to be so minor that even my own mother wouldn't be able to easily tell. However, looking at my nose now, I'm wondering if I should have gone for a bit more to get a more noticeable projection in the nose tip and a definitive supratip break. It was a fairly expensive surgery and quite a tough recovery that I had to endure at first, not to mention the time and effort I invested into selecting the best surgeon possible. Given all that, I'm wondering if I should have been more 'ambitious' on the appearance side of things. On the other hand, I know I'm just being foolish. I've never really had a problem with how my nose looked, and when it comes to cosmetic surgery, the best course of action is usually to leave well alone unless you have a real, debilitating complex about something. On the whole, I am still very happy with my decision and hope I heal well without suffering any major complications.