I’m going to record how I had my rhinoplasty in journal form. (It’s only been one day so far..)
1. Hospital research stage In my case, I was a bit hopeless, but I wanted to get rhinoplasty done while I still had a little time before getting a job, so I had to look for hospitals in a rush and didn’t really spend the time doing thorough online and offline research myself. Instead, I used other people’s effort: when I went into review posts by people who had good rhinoplasty results and clicked on their posts, there were sometimes people who had documented traces of having carefully researched hospitals over a long period of time. I just copied the final list of hospitals they had gone to in person. If you gather lists from 7 or 8 people like this, there will definitely be overlapping hospitals. I narrowed those hospitals down separately, made my own list, and went to each hospital’s website. There I looked at before-and-after photos, checking the side view, 45-degree view, and front view to see whether they could create a nose line similar to the one I wanted. I especially paid close attention to the front-view before-and-after photos, because if the nose gets higher after surgery but the front view becomes strange, then there’s really no fixing that.. As related reading, I recommend this post. (https://sungyesa.com/new/bbs/board.php?bo_table=free&wr_id=1897576) Anyway, if you look quickly, this process can all be done in about half a day. After that, I called the hospitals on the list and booked consultations. Since I wanted the surgery done by the end of February, or at the latest early March, any hospital whose consultation was scheduled for mid-March was automatically excluded. I had consultations at a total of three places, and the diagnoses the doctors gave were all the same - a short, low nose. They recommended a 4 mm silicone implant and lifting the tip with septal cartilage and ear cartilage. (+I also brought photos of myself edited with the Soda app into the nose shape I wanted and asked whether they could do it like that. Maybe I wasn’t asking for too much(?), because they all readily said yes.) Since the diagnoses were all the same, the issue was which hospital to choose. I just chose the person with the most experience. They weren’t unbelievably warm or especially friendly in consultation, but they gave off a strangely senior-professor, hidden-master kind of aura, so I just followed my instincts and chose them.
2. Surgery day (+ It was the day of surgery, and my period started. There was no way to postpone the operation, so I just put in a tampon and had the surgery. It was completely fine, so if anyone is worried about having surgery overlap with their cycle, don’t worry too much~) I went to the hospital again with the edited photo and a brief summary of what I wanted. There, the coordinator gave me the basic instructions and set the schedule for picking up the prescription and removing the gauze packing that would be placed inside my nose after surgery. It would be good to listen carefully and not lose your focus. (After my surgery, I went home after forgetting the prescription, and it caused trouble. Detailed explanation later.) After that, the doctor came in for the design consultation, and because I showed my desired shape with my photo, it ended very quickly. Maybe it was because both the doctor and I preferred a natural look. I changed clothes, washed my face, gargled, and lay down on the operating table. It was my first time with sedation anesthesia, so I was very worried I might wake up in the middle of surgery, but that didn’t happen. When I came to, the surgery was already over. I had almost no dizziness, and because I had been breathing through my mouth the whole time, my mouth and throat were extremely dry. In the recovery room, while on an IV drip, I drank two cups of lukewarm water. In this state.. I went to the pharmacy and forgot to pick up the medication before going home.. While reading the postoperative precautions, I realized I hadn’t gotten the medicine, but because it was Saturday afternoon, most pharmacies around the hospital were closed. If I didn’t take the medicine, I would obviously be writhing in pain after surgery, so I had no choice but to find a pharmacy open on the weekend and ask whether they had the medicines listed on the prescription. Fortunately, although the brand was different, they had medicine with the same ingredients, so I was able to get it safely. And of course, because it wasn’t covered by insurance, the medicine was expensive.. (30,000 won) My nose was completely blocked and blood was pouring out, so I had gauze attached under my nose, which made it hard to eat solid food, so I just ate porridge and took the medicine. I had to keep breathing through my mouth, and when I bought a 5,000-won humidifier from Daiso and turned it on, it felt somewhat better. And because the nosebleed kept going, I couldn’t sleep properly lying flat, so I slept leaning against the wall. But with the uncomfortable position and having to breathe through my mouth the whole time, it was so dry that I barely slept at all. I think I slept on and off all night wearing the eye mask they gave me for cold compresses.
3. Day 2 Strangely, there was no swelling at all around my eyes or face. The nosebleed kept going, so I had to keep changing the gauze. Still, I had gotten used to breathing through my mouth, so it became a bit more comfortable. On the other hand, I had to keep the humidifier running next to me and keep drinking water. As other people’s reviews said, there is almost no pain in the nose itself (only the discomfort of having gauze shoved deep into the nostrils), and the area where cartilage was taken from the ear hurts more. But I’m a little worried that this might make the ear feel loose when I wear earbuds later. Anyway, other than being a little uncomfortable, normal daily life is possible! Tomorrow I’m planning to go to school, then go to the hospital after class to have the gauze inside my nose removed.
4. More updates to come - Swelling changes (I’ll record whether swelling suddenly appears around days 4 or 5 even if there was none before) - Day 5 review (splint removal) - Week 3 review (they say that by around then, some of the swelling goes down and the general nose shape becomes visible) - 4-month review - 6-month review