Septorhinoplasty Caused Long-term Lymphatic Drainage Issues

I waited about 2.5 years to write this review because I wanted to be absolutely 100% certain about how I felt. Unfortunately, how I felt on day 1 post-op is still largely how I feel 2.5 years later. My nose was bone and septum was deviated to one side somewhat and it was always a massive insecurity for me. Around 29, I decided that I wanted to take the plunge and finally get a rhinoplasty which I had wanted throughout my 20s. Prior to the surgery, I was quite nervous, and had additional questions that I wanted to discuss with Dr. Denton, but his secretary at the time steered me away from getting a second consult with him and, instead, encouraged me to just talk to him about any questions on the morning of the surgery. Naively, I thought that there was just absolutely no time in his schedule to chat with me ahead of the surgery.

After the surgery, I was swollen and bruised (totally normal), but I wasn't adequately prepared by Dr. Denton or his team to expect all that, so I was totally shocked and healing was a difficult. All that settled and about 3-4 months after the surgery, I looked good and was happy with the shape of the nose, but breathing wasn't great. I figured it would get better slowly with less inflammation.

Around the 1 year point, my nasal breathing was still really blocked at times and I was starting to notice really poor lymphatic drainage around my eyes (malar bags) and generally across my face. For context, I've always had fantastic lympatic drainage and would never ever wake up puffy throughout my 20s until this surgery. Dr. Denton prescribed mometasone (anti-inflammatory nasal spray) and said that should help with the persistent swelling inside my nose. He also said I definitely had allergies, which was causing puffiness in my face. I got tested for allergies by an allergist and the only allergen I reacted to was grass pollen, so the allergist concluded that having puffiness in january, when my allergen was not present, could not explain the symptom.

The nasal spray I was prescribed eventually started causing me to get really bad nosebleeds so I had to get off of it and try natural techniques for improving my breathing and helping with lymphatic drainage.

The bottom line: If I think about the pros and cons of doing this surgery, the cons certainly outweigh the pros for me. Yes, my nose looks good and I'm really happy that my breathing is now a lot better than it was in the intitial year after surgery. But the amount of struggle I go through now dealing with poor lympathic drainage in my face makes none of it worth it. Long term inflammation damages skin tissue and causes "inflammaging", so my skin has become lax due to poor drainage and constant damage to collagen due to inflammation. It's significantly less youthful and strong, in a way that doesn't make sense with only 2.5 years of time having passed. My eye bags never went away (and only seem to be getting worse), despite my best efforts to curb allergens, improve drainage, excercise, eat an anti-inflammatory diet, and so on. Unsurprisingly, I have a much worse eye bag on the side of my face where my deviated septum previously tilted towards.

If I could go back and time, I would personally not get this surgery. Does this mean that surgery will go negatively for others? Not necessarily. I think Dr. Denton clearly has a strong track record with other patients. I think that if you have a complicated rhinoplasty like mine (with the nasal bone tilted to one side), you should ask him how to mitigate all potential complications like long-term post-op swelling. I imagine a surgery like this would have gone much more smoothly had it just been a dorsal hump that was being smoothed.