POSTED UNDER Rhinoplasty REVIEWS
2 months (8wks) post-op
ORIGINAL POST
Hello hello! I finally decided to make a review...
WORTH IT$6,800
Hello hello! I finally decided to make a review here since I know how scary it can be to make such a decision. Reading other reviews here made me feel a whole lot better, so I figured I should return the favor and maybe assure others who are feeling nervous about an upcoming procedure.
So I've been self-conscious of my nose since I was about 14. Now I'm 20. No one ever made fun of it or anything, and I can't recall just one day waking up and hating it. It might have been a gradual process. Anyways over the six years I would go through phases where I was feeling so-so about my nose, but the majority of the time I despised taking pictures of myself, and every time I'd look in a mirror, my nose would be the first thing I notice. I would analyze every aspect of my nose. It became an obsession. I just wanted some improvement so I wouldn't mind people seeing me from the side. I didn't want my nose to be the first thing people notice about me!
So what bothered me most? The hump. It's actually a pseudo-hump because the area between my eyes, the radix I believe, is too low. It creates the illusion of a bump. Also, my collumella hung too low, and you could see my nostrils too much for my liking! I have tiny red veins on the inside of my nostrils so each day I had to use cover up to make it look less red. Even frontal pictures bothered me because of the way the lighting hit my face; with the radix so low, it made it look like a dark crease between my eyes as opposed to a smooth nose up and down. Does that make sense?
Once I had my first job in my senior year of high school, I vowed to save up the money for a rhinoplasty. After two years I had enough tucked away to feel comfortable with seeking out a doctor. Thankfully my family and friends were supportive and understood that I would be the one living with my nose for the rest of my life! It made sense to do it while I was young and healthy, that way I ~hopefully~ could live out my life without a constant battle with my nose.
So I've spent hours upon hours researching rhinoplasty doctors, reading reviews, and learning the proper terms for describing my nose. Originally I was going to wait until this fall to have surgery, but I thought, "Why push it off? I want it done now!" So in January I had a consultation with Dr. Theodore Golden. I live about 50min away from his office. I had heard about Dr. Golden's lack of bedside manners, but personally I found him quirky and very kind. Not once did I feel rushed or ignored during my consultation. Now I know it's advised to have more than one consultation, but I broke that rule and scheduled a date for surgery. I was told my hump would be shaved to give a straight profile, my collumella shaved a tad bit along with the nasal spine. My septum would be broken to straighten it AND allow my entire nose to be deprojected. No work would be done on my tip, which as Dr.Golden described, was perfect. I was fine with my tip to begin with so that was good news =) I know swelling on the tip tends to take longer to go down, so hopefully I won't be dealing with that. Dr.Golden assured me I would NOT have a piggy nose, but I'm aware that the first few weeks post-op are when the swelling tends to give it such a look.
Fast forward to my final pre-op appointment. We went over my pictures and confirmed what would be done to my nose. Also, what would NOT be done. One of my nostrils is a bit larger than the other, and he said that wouldn't change. That's okay, because that didn't bother me before either (I had noticed it when looking at my nose from below, but who does that anyways? lol) . My main concerns were the hump and collumella.
Now surgery day. I was nervous as heck of course. My mom went with me. In the waiting room we met the mother of another girl who was having surgery before me. Dr. Golden came out and hugged me, telling me not to worry because he knew what he was doing. Haha. I can tell he takes a lot of pride in what he does, which is good. Eek I was afraid of the twilight sedation, because I've heard stories of people hearing the bone break and whatnot.
Once in my gown (I still had my yoga pants on, just not my shirt), I was given the IV. Yadda yadda, it feel weird and I recall saying, "Ohh I feel it now!" once everyone went blurry. I think the procedure started around noon. I DO remember hearing a crunching sound, and him scraping my hump. And tugging which very faintly hurt, but nothing big. This was what I was afraid of, however, rest assured that you are so drugged up that such sounds will not bother you! I didn't care at all, and found it a little interesting haha. Next thing I know, I'm resting in the chair for a while. It's 2:45pm by then. The nurses are very attentive and sat beside me while I came around. Apparently I swallowed blood so I was nauseous and expected to puke. My eyes felt so heavy and disorientated when I tried to open them. I just wanted to go to sleep. My throat was super dry as well. I remember coughing a few times.
Once I was well enough to get into the wheelchair, I was taken to the recovery room. I told them my mom could come in. We just sat around for a while. One of the nurses kept asking if I was feeling okay. They didn't want to give me water because that would make me more sick, but the whole time that was the only thing I wanted. Just some water. I was given a wet rag to wipe the blood off of my lips. I finally did puke up a little bit of blood and felt better. They wanted me to use the bathroom before leaving but I just didn't have to. It was a relief to be able to go home. I had my foam u-shaped pillow and a dolphin pillow pet to rest my head on. It was comfy. Upon getting home I rested on the couch for a while, and my cat kept me company ;) My room is upstairs, so my mom helped me up there because it's more quiet and away from the noise of two yappy dogs and a little sister ahah. I took sips of water, had a single bite of toast. Dr. Golden called to check up on me and said I shouldn't take the vicodin until I had some proper protein in me. Around 9pm I felt better after napping for so long, and had some scrambled eggs to take my medicine with. Sleeping on my back was annoying but not unbearable. Now I feel much better, but look terrible as expected haha. I had a good breakfast this morning. I have to change my drip pad on occasion but there's not a ton of bleeding at least. It looks piggy when I go to change the pads, but it's so funny looking that I don't mind at all. I know it'll change as the swelling goes down in time. Anyways here I am, typing this up before I forget anything. I might post pictures coming up by right now I don't feel comfortable doing so. I WILL eventually, because personally my favorite reviews are the ones with pictures. Thanks for reading!
So I've been self-conscious of my nose since I was about 14. Now I'm 20. No one ever made fun of it or anything, and I can't recall just one day waking up and hating it. It might have been a gradual process. Anyways over the six years I would go through phases where I was feeling so-so about my nose, but the majority of the time I despised taking pictures of myself, and every time I'd look in a mirror, my nose would be the first thing I notice. I would analyze every aspect of my nose. It became an obsession. I just wanted some improvement so I wouldn't mind people seeing me from the side. I didn't want my nose to be the first thing people notice about me!
So what bothered me most? The hump. It's actually a pseudo-hump because the area between my eyes, the radix I believe, is too low. It creates the illusion of a bump. Also, my collumella hung too low, and you could see my nostrils too much for my liking! I have tiny red veins on the inside of my nostrils so each day I had to use cover up to make it look less red. Even frontal pictures bothered me because of the way the lighting hit my face; with the radix so low, it made it look like a dark crease between my eyes as opposed to a smooth nose up and down. Does that make sense?
Once I had my first job in my senior year of high school, I vowed to save up the money for a rhinoplasty. After two years I had enough tucked away to feel comfortable with seeking out a doctor. Thankfully my family and friends were supportive and understood that I would be the one living with my nose for the rest of my life! It made sense to do it while I was young and healthy, that way I ~hopefully~ could live out my life without a constant battle with my nose.
So I've spent hours upon hours researching rhinoplasty doctors, reading reviews, and learning the proper terms for describing my nose. Originally I was going to wait until this fall to have surgery, but I thought, "Why push it off? I want it done now!" So in January I had a consultation with Dr. Theodore Golden. I live about 50min away from his office. I had heard about Dr. Golden's lack of bedside manners, but personally I found him quirky and very kind. Not once did I feel rushed or ignored during my consultation. Now I know it's advised to have more than one consultation, but I broke that rule and scheduled a date for surgery. I was told my hump would be shaved to give a straight profile, my collumella shaved a tad bit along with the nasal spine. My septum would be broken to straighten it AND allow my entire nose to be deprojected. No work would be done on my tip, which as Dr.Golden described, was perfect. I was fine with my tip to begin with so that was good news =) I know swelling on the tip tends to take longer to go down, so hopefully I won't be dealing with that. Dr.Golden assured me I would NOT have a piggy nose, but I'm aware that the first few weeks post-op are when the swelling tends to give it such a look.
Fast forward to my final pre-op appointment. We went over my pictures and confirmed what would be done to my nose. Also, what would NOT be done. One of my nostrils is a bit larger than the other, and he said that wouldn't change. That's okay, because that didn't bother me before either (I had noticed it when looking at my nose from below, but who does that anyways? lol) . My main concerns were the hump and collumella.
Now surgery day. I was nervous as heck of course. My mom went with me. In the waiting room we met the mother of another girl who was having surgery before me. Dr. Golden came out and hugged me, telling me not to worry because he knew what he was doing. Haha. I can tell he takes a lot of pride in what he does, which is good. Eek I was afraid of the twilight sedation, because I've heard stories of people hearing the bone break and whatnot.
Once in my gown (I still had my yoga pants on, just not my shirt), I was given the IV. Yadda yadda, it feel weird and I recall saying, "Ohh I feel it now!" once everyone went blurry. I think the procedure started around noon. I DO remember hearing a crunching sound, and him scraping my hump. And tugging which very faintly hurt, but nothing big. This was what I was afraid of, however, rest assured that you are so drugged up that such sounds will not bother you! I didn't care at all, and found it a little interesting haha. Next thing I know, I'm resting in the chair for a while. It's 2:45pm by then. The nurses are very attentive and sat beside me while I came around. Apparently I swallowed blood so I was nauseous and expected to puke. My eyes felt so heavy and disorientated when I tried to open them. I just wanted to go to sleep. My throat was super dry as well. I remember coughing a few times.
Once I was well enough to get into the wheelchair, I was taken to the recovery room. I told them my mom could come in. We just sat around for a while. One of the nurses kept asking if I was feeling okay. They didn't want to give me water because that would make me more sick, but the whole time that was the only thing I wanted. Just some water. I was given a wet rag to wipe the blood off of my lips. I finally did puke up a little bit of blood and felt better. They wanted me to use the bathroom before leaving but I just didn't have to. It was a relief to be able to go home. I had my foam u-shaped pillow and a dolphin pillow pet to rest my head on. It was comfy. Upon getting home I rested on the couch for a while, and my cat kept me company ;) My room is upstairs, so my mom helped me up there because it's more quiet and away from the noise of two yappy dogs and a little sister ahah. I took sips of water, had a single bite of toast. Dr. Golden called to check up on me and said I shouldn't take the vicodin until I had some proper protein in me. Around 9pm I felt better after napping for so long, and had some scrambled eggs to take my medicine with. Sleeping on my back was annoying but not unbearable. Now I feel much better, but look terrible as expected haha. I had a good breakfast this morning. I have to change my drip pad on occasion but there's not a ton of bleeding at least. It looks piggy when I go to change the pads, but it's so funny looking that I don't mind at all. I know it'll change as the swelling goes down in time. Anyways here I am, typing this up before I forget anything. I might post pictures coming up by right now I don't feel comfortable doing so. I WILL eventually, because personally my favorite reviews are the ones with pictures. Thanks for reading!
Corlel's provider
UPDATED FROM Corlel
4 days post
4/3/13 Day after surgery. I felt good up until...
4/3/13
Day after surgery. I felt good up until late afternoon, at which time I started to feel nauseous. By the evening I was puking a lot, it was horrible. I think the vicodin was behind this, along with the bit of blood I had swallowed before. The nurse had told me I would likely throw it up, but since it had been over a day since surgery, I thought I was safe. I won't go into details, but my ill episode wasn't pretty. That night I had a lot more trouble sleeping. I was shaking and trying to keep down the saltine crackers and ginger drink my dad got for me. Thankfully I did keep it all down.
4/4/13
I felt weak all day due to bad sleep and lack of proper food. My nose still needed a drip pad. My mom got me some shake called Ensure Plus which helped fufill my lack of nutrients. I went through a ton of water too because I was worried about becoming dehydrated from the puking, not to mention I could only breathe through my mouth. My lips are not too pretty right now despite applying good chapstick all day. I shudder to think what they'd look like if I didn't have that! Also I washed my hair with help from my mom...don't know how people do that without help. It felt really wonderful to have clean hair, my goodness.
4/5/13
Still need drip pad. Nose is still super stuffed, but I noticed on occasion I'd feel some air enter it, and feel bubbling from all the gunk in it. Lovely image huh? So I havent been taking that vicodin, and went all day without pain meds. Sometimes I'd feel a sting near the stitch holding the septum in place. I still don't feel that hungry, but I'm eating anyways just to feel less weak.
4/6/13
Went in to get my cast off. I didn't wear a drip pad but I brought q tips to wipe the slight drainage I still had on one side. In the office I met the girl who had surgery right before me, and then another girl who had hers the day after mine. It was a relief to see how similar their fronts looked to mine, all swollen and a bit upturned still. One of them mentioned looking on realself before, so maybe she'll see this haha.
So I heard getting the nose cleaned out was uncomfortable, so prior to it I took two tylenol (yeah I abandoned the vicodin), which may have helped. It still hurt when Dr. Golden shoved cotton soaked with medicine up there and cleaned the crusty blood out. There was a lot of pressure when he took the cast off and put the tape on. Dare I say this was worse than the surgery itself. I could breathe through it for a while after though, which was nice! But I got really light headed for a while, and I still feel a bit dizzy now. Regarding my nose, with just tape on I can see it better, and it's wonderful. So swollen but it's already better than I imagined. Gotta admit that I kind of cried earlier because of how happy I felt. With time my nose will get even better, my bruises will go away, and I'll resume life as usual. Only this time I won't be turning my head to avoid people seeing my nose. I already feel more confident.
Day after surgery. I felt good up until late afternoon, at which time I started to feel nauseous. By the evening I was puking a lot, it was horrible. I think the vicodin was behind this, along with the bit of blood I had swallowed before. The nurse had told me I would likely throw it up, but since it had been over a day since surgery, I thought I was safe. I won't go into details, but my ill episode wasn't pretty. That night I had a lot more trouble sleeping. I was shaking and trying to keep down the saltine crackers and ginger drink my dad got for me. Thankfully I did keep it all down.
4/4/13
I felt weak all day due to bad sleep and lack of proper food. My nose still needed a drip pad. My mom got me some shake called Ensure Plus which helped fufill my lack of nutrients. I went through a ton of water too because I was worried about becoming dehydrated from the puking, not to mention I could only breathe through my mouth. My lips are not too pretty right now despite applying good chapstick all day. I shudder to think what they'd look like if I didn't have that! Also I washed my hair with help from my mom...don't know how people do that without help. It felt really wonderful to have clean hair, my goodness.
4/5/13
Still need drip pad. Nose is still super stuffed, but I noticed on occasion I'd feel some air enter it, and feel bubbling from all the gunk in it. Lovely image huh? So I havent been taking that vicodin, and went all day without pain meds. Sometimes I'd feel a sting near the stitch holding the septum in place. I still don't feel that hungry, but I'm eating anyways just to feel less weak.
4/6/13
Went in to get my cast off. I didn't wear a drip pad but I brought q tips to wipe the slight drainage I still had on one side. In the office I met the girl who had surgery right before me, and then another girl who had hers the day after mine. It was a relief to see how similar their fronts looked to mine, all swollen and a bit upturned still. One of them mentioned looking on realself before, so maybe she'll see this haha.
So I heard getting the nose cleaned out was uncomfortable, so prior to it I took two tylenol (yeah I abandoned the vicodin), which may have helped. It still hurt when Dr. Golden shoved cotton soaked with medicine up there and cleaned the crusty blood out. There was a lot of pressure when he took the cast off and put the tape on. Dare I say this was worse than the surgery itself. I could breathe through it for a while after though, which was nice! But I got really light headed for a while, and I still feel a bit dizzy now. Regarding my nose, with just tape on I can see it better, and it's wonderful. So swollen but it's already better than I imagined. Gotta admit that I kind of cried earlier because of how happy I felt. With time my nose will get even better, my bruises will go away, and I'll resume life as usual. Only this time I won't be turning my head to avoid people seeing my nose. I already feel more confident.
Replies (0)
UPDATED FROM Corlel
5 days post
5/7/13 added pictures, and gotta change the dates...
5/7/13 added pictures, and gotta change the dates because I put down April instead of May, silly me!
Replies (12)
May 7, 2013
Congrats ! Your profile already looks amazing, even with the tape ! Thank you for all the info, I have surgery May 22nd and reading every review !!! Did you have any anti-nausea meds through your IV ? This is the one thing I am nervous about...throwing up...Thank you for sharing your story !
May 7, 2013
Thank you =) And I'm not sure to be honest. They didn't mention that, but you might want to ask them about it. I threw up in the recovery room, well after the IV had been taken out. It depends on how much blood you swallow during surgery too I suppose. They broke my nose so that also meant more blood. You just have to take it one day at a time during recovery. Good luck on your surgery, I'm sure you'll do great!
May 7, 2013
Oh, they are all very well aware that there can be NO throwing up ! HA ! I plan on keeping ginger ale very close by. Keep us updated on your recovery !!
May 7, 2013
Oh yeah that ginger ale will be your best friend during recovery! And will do! I get annoyed when reviews aren't updated after the first month even. I plan to update up until a year has passed.
May 7, 2013
Oh, I'm so happy for you! It IS emotional when you realize that something that has bothered you your whole life will no longer be an issue. Thanks for sharing and please keep us updated as you continue to heal.
May 8, 2013
Yeah it's crazy how much something like this can affect your self-esteem, and how free you feel when it's no longer a problem. I just hope it continues to heal well.
May 8, 2013
You already look stunning, you're gonna look amazing with the tape off! You can certainly see a difference already -your whole face has so much more balance now. Looking forward to reading more (and also my turn!). By the way, your hair is GORGEOUS!
May 8, 2013
Thank you so much! :) yeah I agree about the balance. It's great being able to take pictures at any angle now and not being annoyed with a big nose in the way lol. Good luck with your own journey!
May 9, 2013
Where are the pictures I cannot see them? Are you able to email me them
Sharlean@hotmail.co.uk x x x
May 9, 2013
Oh, there's eight pictures so far...they should be at the top, just below the price. If you're viewing it on a mobile they might not show up. Maybe try a different browser?
Replies (0)