Before <Before surgery (front)> After <After surgery (front)> Before <Before surgery (semi-profile)> After <After surgery (semi-profile)> Before <Before surgery (side)> After <After surgery (side)> A few years ago, I had Hiko done with non-dissolving threads, then had them removed because of side effects and underwent cartilage tying! But because the cartilage tying had been done too tightly, my nose looked very pinched, and I kept being bothered by parts I disliked, such as the hump and drooping nasal tip, so I decided to have surgery. I had inflammation symptoms when I got Hiko before, and I did not want silicone, so I mainly consulted places that would use as few foreign materials as possible. I visited about 5 hospitals known for revision surgery before deciding~! Actually, a lot happened before I made the decision. The nose I wanted was natural, with a slightly rounded tip and a short nose, so even after booking somewhere else, I felt strangely uneasy and uncomfortable. With 5 days left before surgery, I finally met Director ㅅㅈㅇ at ㄷㄹ Plastic Surgery for a consultation, and I thought, this is the place, so I decided right away haha (I hope everyone takes enough time and goes around for lots of consultations ㅠㅠ)
* Reasons I decided before surgery Before meeting the director, I first consulted with the consultant, and she was very kind and did not push anything excessive, so it felt like I only received consultation on exactly what was needed! At first I wondered if the director might be scary, but he was kind, and he kept asking if I had any questions, so I was able to consult comfortably. (Like someone wrote in a review, he really felt like a university professor haha) Also, he tried to shape things in the direction I wanted and lifted my nose with a cotton swab to show an example, which made him seem like someone trying to do the nose surgery the patient wants, not the surgery the doctor wants to do. That is why I decided!
* Surgical method My face is narrow, so it already looks long, and because my midface is long, it looked even longer and older. On top of that, after cartilage tying, the pinched area stood out, so we decided to reduce the columella, build a support column with septal cartilage, lightly place ear cartilage on the pinched area, and connect the uneven hump area with cartilage so it could look like a straight-to-slightly-curved nose!
* Day of surgery I am an office worker, so I worked in the morning, fasted for 6 hours, and went in for surgery! Before surgery, I had one more consultation with the director and then moved to the operating room. The operating room was not as cold and scary as I had imagined, and it felt more comfortable than other places, but thinking that I was actually having surgery still made me tremble a lot.. I said I was scared, the director reassured me, and then I drifted right off to sleep, so other than the anesthetic injection, nothing was scary or painful hahaha When I woke up, I was lying on a bed. I was a bit dazed, drank some water, rested a little, and then came home.
* Day of surgery to day 1 Honestly, this was the hardest time. Because there was cotton inside my nose, I had to breathe through my mouth, and my mouth got very dry, so I kept drinking water through a straw. It also felt like there was a lot inside my nose, and there was a lot of discomfort. ㅠㅠ I raised my pillow, dozed off, and at some point I think I fell asleep! The next day, I went to the hospital, got dressing done and the cotton removed, and it felt like my nose opened right up. (Other hospitals supposedly remove it on day 3, how do people endure that..ㅠㅠ) One of the reasons I liked ㄷㄹ was that the director personally did the dressing, so from the patient’s perspective it felt like he was taking care of me!
* Day 1 to day 7 after surgery The cotton was removed, but there was still discomfort, and from this point my ear also started hurting a bit. On day 3, the director checked my progress and did dressing once more. Because of work, I had the splint and tape removed two days early, and the next day I had the stitches removed. My eyes and face did not swell much, but the nose area swelled more than expected, so both the director and I were very puzzled. Even though my skin is thin, I was 2-3 times more swollen than others..ㅠㅠ So I got a swelling injection and was prescribed medicine to reduce swelling, which I took for about 5 days.
* Week 1 to week 2 From day 4 after surgery, I think I caught a mild cold, and maybe because of that I kept sneezing and having a runny nose, and my nose also seemed extremely swollen.. The shape was not what I had imagined, so I regretted it a lot, thinking maybe I did it for nothing..ㅠㅠ I also kept feeling like my nose was blocked.
* Week 3 to week 4 Still, thankfully the swelling went down day by day, and the cold-like nose symptoms gradually improved. I think from week 3 I started to feel like I could live normally! My nose no longer ran, I no longer had to breathe through my mouth, and the nasal bridge that had been swollen like an Avatar also went down a lot. The nasal alae are still swollen so they look bulky, but I am hoping they will become slimmer once the swelling goes down~! I was very conscious of the operated area, but surprisingly, people around me did not even know I had surgery unless I told them.. lol When I saw other people’s reviews with dramatic changes, I briefly regretted and wondered if I should have done that too, but since noses have so many possible side effects, now I think it is a relief that I did not get greedy~ I recommend ㄷㄹ to those who want a natural change~!! It still has not settled yet, so I will leave another review at 3 months~!! :D
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