Risk too great-The Nose Makes the Face - Washington, DC

Hey everyone! I had my 2nd revision with Dr. Grigoryants. Please check out my review here:
http://www.realself.com/review/md-revision-rhinoplasty-revision-journey

Hi Guys!

Consults are done :)
I have a residual hump/unevenly shaved bridge, a droopy columella, my tip is slanted to the right, and I have shadows from my fracture lines. This has been confirmed by the Drs I consulted. I have consulted with a total of 6 doctors either in person or by phone+email.

To correct what I had said previously at one point, I don't have an inverted V deformity. Just an unevenly shaved bridge. My alas did go up, by they are not considered "notched" and are "within reasonable distance". Reducing tip size can bring them up, that's just a trade-off with rhinoplasty. I do have a droopy columella though, which makes them look worse, so once that is fixed it will look much better.

I have spent a ridiculous amount of time educating myself on rhinoplasty and know that I am taking a risk yet again. Please do the same before going in for your primary because a revision is just so much more complicated and more expensive. Please choose a reputable surgeon with many reviews by actual patients.

I just booked my revision surgery. I hope and pray that my gut has guided me to the right surgeon. I won't post who I chose until the surgery is done. I will write and post pictures once the cast is off in a few months :) Wish me luck!!!

Today was very emotional for me. I took some pictures and the dent in the nose is back completely..started crying in the car. It helps that some of the bony portion was filed down, so it doesn't look nearly as bad, but still enough to make me avoid pictures and to be self conscious of my profile around people (more so than pre-op, ha!) :( My alar retraction/droopy columella has gotten worse. The dent and retraction show more on my left side than my right. Yay for an asymmetrical nose. My left side was always my worse side. I think that may be part of the problem too...the bone needs to be filed down on one side more than the other. Overall, I now do regret getting the revision. It should have been a pretty simple fix, most Drs I've emailed/met have told me so. But I think if your problem post-rhinoplasty is not simply a "touch-up" to improve overall results ESPECIALLY if it's a tip problem you shouldn't get it fixed with the same surgeon. Just don't. Save up and find another surgeon.

I emailed my Dr. telling him I was really upset and he called and left a VM and replied to my email saying he gets upset when one of his patients is upset, which is really nice of him. I think a lot surgeons just flip on you and lose that positive attitude once you tell them you're unhappy. But again I still have this problem that is my nose and it's taking a toll on my emotional well-being.

I took a video today and compared it to one pre-op. I *think* my tip looks better. Yay for something positive. I say *think* because I still don't like how it looks under certain lighting. My nose was more of an /\ shape and now it's a || shape, but my nose is too long for an || shape. I'm still not sure if I will have it shortened. Also, it took a REALLY long time for my brain to adjust to the new tip. Probably because the swelling was out of control in the beginning. There is still something weird about the dome-binding technique that I don't like. It looks strange under certain lighting. Honestly, comparing the videos, I don't know how no one noticed, but I realize now that most people don't memorize what your features look like, and unless you go from a big nose to a little nose, they won't even notice you had anything done.

I also realize how I have so few videos of myself pre-op. Like maybe 5 total. I did take a lot of pictures but it's not the same. It's so much easier to see the difference via video.

If you plan on getting an operation make sure you take some videos of yourself and under different lighting too.

Just overall I have very conflicting, confusing feelings. The love/hate relationship I had with my face is very confusing for me. The operation definitely negatively impacted my self-perception and brought to surface a lot of insecurities. There is a reason that I hated people taking candid photos of me, yet at the same time, I was pretty confident overall, felt pretty a lot of times, got complimented often, never had a problem dating etc...It's almost a schizophrenic self-image. I still can't wrap my head around it.