I had surgery at D-Day, and there was still some swelling until day 10 after surgery, but now I understand why they say to just hold on for two weeks. The swelling seems to have gone down a lot now. Honestly, I only did cold compresses until day 3 and didn't really keep doing them properly (I was too lazy). Even with that, it seems like the swelling went down pretty fast.
But after nose surgery, why does smiling feel so awkward? Maybe because my nose feels pulled. Did everyone else who had nose surgery feel that way too? lol I always become aware of it when I smile, and that's a bit uncomfortable.
I had surgery with ear cartilage, so in the beginning I felt like I shouldn't let water get into my ear, and I couldn't wash my hair properly for a week! If I didn't have dry shampoo, I have no idea what I would've done;; So what I did was put a plastic bag over my ear and secure it, then wash my hair, and water didn't get in at all, which worked really well. If you're getting ear cartilage like me, try washing your hair this way!
But there was more redness and scarring around the ear than I expected, yet it healed amazingly fast. Even on the day the stitches were removed, the director told me that my recovery was excellent. Maybe that's why the swelling went down so fast?
In my opinion, the hardest period after nose surgery was days 1 to 3? During that time, not being able to breathe through my nose because of the packing was extremely rough for me! Other than that, I think I actually handled the nose surgery pretty comfortably!! Right now the bridge height and the tip have become naturally sharp, so I think the surgery went well!