Before<Removal + 9 days (day 10), front view, slightly lifted view, view from directly underneath>I’m writing this because I’m glad I had the removal done. The photos are a bit oily... I’m posting this as a reference for those worried about open-incision scars and those deciding between open and closed approaches.
I had it done at one of the well-known “top three” removal clinics I saw in a community. I had the nasal bridge silicone implant (2-3 mm) removed, capsule removal, removal of the previous cartilage tying, and cartilage repositioning (slightly higher) through an open approach. After surgery started, Medpor was found in the nasal tip, so that was removed as well.
At the moment, except for the columella, my sensation has returned to exactly how it was before surgery. It feels like my own nose. Over the past few days, my eye shape changed, I felt like my nostrils were lifted, and I intermittently had a stinging/cold sensation inside one side of my nose. I even felt itchy inside my nose and, out of habit, lightly scratched it with my fingernail ㅠ I was so worried, wondering if it might be inflammation or whether something had opened up inside, but today everything is fine. I guess it was part of the recovery process.
A lot of the swelling between my eyebrows has gone down too. I had open surgery on the morning of the 1st, and it’s day 10 now, but there is barely any columellar scar. During my first surgery, they made a straight-line incision, so early on it looked like a red straight line, but this time it was a zigzag incision + maybe the surgeon is very skilled, so it’s much lighter. I had it done open because clinics that often do closed approaches, and also my own case, said it would be difficult to improve with a closed approach. I had been thinking about revision surgery and then changed my mind to removal, so a closed approach might have been possible, but since I had Medpor anyway, I think it was good that I did it open. Lately, scars on my foot had turned red and then stayed brown for a long time, so I was a bit worried, but if it stays like this, I think the scar won’t be very visible in a month or two. (To talk about scars, during my first surgery the scar was noticeably visible as a red line, but over about a year it gradually faded, and with time it disappeared completely. I had that surgery when I was 20, so I think the wound healed well then. Now that I’m 28, I scar more easily than before, so I think it may take much longer to disappear completely. But even if it remains, it can be easily covered with concealer, so I’m not too worried.)
There is still discomfort when there is movement around the columella-philtrum area, and dissolvable stitches remain inside, so it still stings a little at times, but it feels much more comfortable than my nose before removal, when it had silicone and Medpor inside. If I had known Medpor was in there, I would have removed it much earlier, but I had no idea and lived like that until it came out when they opened my nose..
Right now there is still swelling on the nasal bridge, so it looks smooth, and the drooping of the columella is also a little improved compared with before removal, so I like the shape too. But once the swelling goes down and the nasal tip gradually droops, I think it will eventually go back to something similar to my original hump nose. The area between my eyebrows is still soft, and where the hump used to be, I can already feel the bone lol. Still, my surgical nose had been so strange that I’m going to try to live satisfied with this.
When the contraction period comes, I’ll probably get stressed again like I did yesterday and the day before because of the feeling that my nostrils were lifted, but it’s only temporary, and right now I just love that my nose feels so comfortable.. Because of silicone show-through, pressure on the nasal bridge, and a foreign-body sensation in the nasal tip, I thought about removal for more than 5 years, and in the end I got removal surgery almost 9 years later. I keep wondering why I didn’t do it sooner~ㅠ I think I lived so uncomfortably all that time. I still don’t know how it will change, and after a few months I’ll post full photos of my removed nose and how the progress is going. Right now, after the major swelling has gone down, it’s prettier than both my original nose and my first-surgery nose, but I think it will change a lot from here.
+ Oh, for the clinic, I hope you go to consultations and choose the place that fits you! The reason I chose this place is that, during the consultation, the director looked at my nose and immediately identified the problems. They also told me right away that if I removed it, certain parts would improve in certain ways, so I trusted the director’s experience. Because it’s a famous place, the price was high, I only saw the director very briefly, and after the surgery there was also an issue that left me a bit taken aback. Still, I’m quite satisfied with the surgical result, so I often think it was good that I had it done here. However, there may be parts I dislike later, and there are also negative comments about aftercare, so I think I need to watch it for longer. If I really like it later, I’ll recommend it here and there.
Honestly, I think surgeons at places famous for removal are all skilled. Because of my schedule, I only had consultations at two places and decided. At the other place, the before-and-after photos they showed made me trust their skill, but they said they wouldn’t know the condition of my nose until they opened it, they wouldn’t know what would happen after removal either, and that the part I was concerned about now might or might not improve. Since I couldn’t get a clear sense of it, I was scared and couldn’t do it. Honestly, I think the result would probably have been similar even if I had done it there. I think they were just speaking honestly.
This got long, but if you find a place that understands your nose’s problems well and clearly suggests solutions for those issues, and otherwise choose a clinic that meets your own conditions, I think your removal surgery will go well!
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