[Revision nose surgery] Non-implant rhinoplasty using ear cartilage particles, from surgery day to 3 weeks: review

While looking into revision nose surgery, there were just so many blind spots and the information I could find was all over the place, so I’m leaving this post in hopes that it helps even a little. My original nose had almost no bridge and was very low. My first surgery, done 12 to 13 years ago, used silicone (3 to 4 mm) plus ear cartilage for the tip. The silicone never looked sharp at all, and my nose looked so natural that people couldn’t tell I had surgery. There wasn’t any inflammation or anything, but calcium buildup made the bridge look wrinkled and bumpy, so I decided to get a revision. I visited a total of 7 to 8 hospitals, and in the end I chose ear cartilage particles among 1) donor dermis and 2) the non-implant method using cartilage particles. I was afraid of choosing silicone again because I worried it might calcify... It had to be my last surgery, really... With donor dermis, the absorption rate is hard to predict, and opinions were all over the place about whether it’s good or bad, or whether there’s no better material for raising the bridge, so I agonized over it until the end. In the end, I judged that cartilage particles would be better. And above all, the doctor said that even a very low nose can still have the bridge raised sufficiently with cartilage particles. (I asked again to confirm.) So I had the revision surgery, and on day 7 the splint came off... even accounting for swelling, I could feel that my nose had become noticeably lower. From that point on, I got anxious and searched like crazy for donor dermis, worrying whether I had made the wrong choice. If I list it by day... Day 7 to Day 10: swelling hadn’t settled yet, so I still couldn’t clearly tell the shape. Even though nothing had been removed, it felt like my nose might go back to how it was before. Every time I looked in the mirror I felt depressed and teary, and I kept searching for reviews about early removal followed by donor dermis insertion. Days 11 to 14: as the swelling went down, I could feel the bridge between the eyes gradually getting lower. Days 14 to 21: the bridge between the eyes had dropped a lot, to only slightly higher than my original nose. As the swelling on the bridge also went down, it looked lower. Other people say this is the time when the nose looks high, and they get anxious, but I had the opposite experience, so I had nowhere to talk about it. And when I looked into it, there weren’t many long-term reviews for [Clinic A], [Clinic B], [Clinic C], etc. done with cartilage particles. They say that when you use autologous tissue, there can be some absorption over time, and I wanted to share the result to see whether this surgery is really suitable for someone like me who has a very low bridge. So far, my feeling is that cartilage particles may not be recommended for people with a very low bridge. The sense of loss is severe, and right now the height is exactly somewhere between silicone and my original nose. Shape-wise, it still doesn’t look strange, sunken, or uneven, and there doesn’t seem to be any inflammatory reaction. Honestly, I’m still wondering whether I should have built the bridge with donor dermis instead... I hope this helps even a little for people who are choosing cartilage particles like I did... I’ll come back with a long-term review.