Septo/rhinoplasty in Saudi Arabia - Tabuk, SA

I had septoplasty and rhinoplasty a few days ago in Saudi Arabia. The septoplasty was because my nose had been broken a few times from fighting in High school and the doctor stated was severely damaged. The rhinoplasty was to remove the small hump on my nose, not for cosmetic reasons, but because it was sensitive to masks such as SCUBA and firefighting. Keep in mind that neither has seriously affected my life as I am a firefighter and can run half marathons, but since my insurance covered the septoplasty I figured it would be nice to be able to breath through both nostrils at the same time, and for only $1,600 more out of pocket I could get the hump removed which I also figured was worth it.

My expectations are simple. For the inside of the nose to be fixed with clear passages in both nostrils. On the outside I just wanted the hump removed. Today is day 3 and I just got back from the doctor cleaning out the passages. He says everything is fine so far and on Sunday I should get the outside split off(There are also little blue splits inside that he says will probably come off next Wednesday). I have not felt pain at any time except when he cleans out my nose by shoving gauze and the suction inside. For about 6 hours post-op I could barely open my eyes due to swelling and bruising. For 24 hours post-op I could not swallow a drop of water or food without vomiting blood. But I and the doctors believe that was from the anesthesia, which I had the exact same reaction the only other time I have had surgery.

My nose continuously runs and was also congested until he cleaned it today. Now I can breath through both nostrils at the same time for the first time in my adult life. Drawbacks right now are the runny nose, congestion, severe burning of the eyes, taking wet wipe baths, and itching under the split. Also my nostrils are uneven in size but at day 3 I do not think that matters due to swelling. I only decided today to post about my experience so I do not have pictures from everyday. A friend took pictures post-op+1 which I will post when I get them.

Today is day 6 post-op and the worst thing is the itching. Everything else is pretty good. I found the best way to rid myself of the burning eyes is to trim the pieces of tape that are melting or falling off the splint bandage and running a wet wipe across my eyes two or three times a day. There is still no pain and the bruising and swelling are going down each day. I'm really looking forward to getting this thing off tomorrow to get rid of the itching and to see how my nose looks. I have also added more pictures from the past few days.

Today I got the outside splint removed and I was ready. The itching was driving me nuts. Everything looked good when he took it off. The nose looks straight without a hump. The tip is still a bit big due to swelling. He put little paper pieces over the nose to help keep it supported. The bridge of the nose hurts a little bit if I touch it and the tip is completely numb. I cannot taste or smell very well but each day both senses get stronger. He also removed the stitches from the septum today and it looks quite bad(See pictures). Hopefully it will heal quickly and not have a scar. Each time I go in he cleans my nose and pulls quite a bit of gunk out. It feels great for a few hours afterwards but then I start to get congested again. My next appointment is in 7 days for another cleaning and follow-up.