Haha,, I never thought I’d be writing in the nose-removal board.. Even when I searched in a community and here and there, there weren’t many people who had only alar cartilage tying through an open approach, and among them there really weren’t any who had early removal... I wrote this down messily just to keep my own record, but I hope it helpsㅜㅜ
☑️ First surgery Only alar cartilage tying through an open approach, without using an implant or cartilage (that’s what I thought was done, but when it was removed, they found some cartilage grafted onto the nasal tip lol I think they probably cut some alar cartilage and grafted it there)
☑️ Removal Early removal on day 11 after surgery, released the cartilage tying and did cartilage repositioning
☑️ Reason for removal I had a bulbous nose, but after surgery it looked shadowed like a pinched shape, and while the nostril-wing width stayed the same, the nasal tip narrowed sharply, making it look shadowed like a garlic-shaped nose
▫️Day of early removal▫️ -Swelling was worse than the first surgery -After cartilage tying, when I touched the nasal tip with my hand, I couldn’t fully feel the sensation, but after releasing the cartilage tying, from day one I could feel the exact same sensation as when I used to scratch my original nose
▫️Day 1 after removal▫️ -My nose was sooo swollen... firm enough when touched -The mucous membrane inside my left nostril suddenly swelled up -At night when sleeping, it felt tight and more swollen -It was so firm and swollen that I thought it was a hematoma
▫️Day 2 after removal▫️ -The swelling seemed to have gone down a little compared to the day before -The nose that had been tight became a bit soft by the afternoon -The nasal lobule is still more roundly swollen than my original nose -The inside of my nose feels slightly stuffy, like it’s a little filled with mucus
▫️Day 3 after removal▫️ -Started swelling again -The bruising disappeared right away
▫️Day 4 after removal (external columella stitches removed)▫️ -Swelling is just a bit rounder than my original nose -The incision line looks more obvious than when the stitches were removed after the first surgery -The nasal tip feels very slightly tight
▫️After stitch removal ~ week 2▫️ -The swelling went down a lot day by day -The pinched shape of the operated nose appeared again lol,, about 90 operated nose and 10 original nose -From around day 8, the nasal tip became hard -It feels like my nose is twitching and wobbling on its own
▫️~Week 3 after removal▫️ -Nasal tip is hard -Itching around the dissolvable stitches inside the nose -The nose looks slightly upturned... first time in my life...ㅠ
Visited for the 3-week follow-up -They said the swollen part inside the left nostril is not scar tissue, but an unavoidable protruding part from cartilage repositioning (my original nose before cartilage tying wasn’t like that though...?) -They said the contracture period can last up to 3 months, but rather than getting more pinched for the entire 3 months, it should gradually loosen -They said warm compresses are not particularly effective during the contracture period -I was instructed to start massage from week 4, but not to lift or pull the columella area
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Honestly, from week 2 I could see the pinched shape again, so I wondered if early removal had been useless too, but today when I went for the follow-up and compared the before-removal and 3-week before-after photos, the pinched look had still loosened a tiny bit. I thought if I did cartilage tying, the round feeling of my bulbous nose would remain and only the volume would naturally decrease a little, but that wasn’t the case.... The photos on apps like those were either right after surgery or less than a week after, so I didn’t realize there was swellingㅠㅠㅠ I also liked it so much until day 4 after my first surgery that I had written notes to post a review in a community lol But once the swelling went down, from days 5-6 the pinched look became very obvious.... It may suit some people well, but I think it really wasn’t a surgical method that matched my nose. If anyone is considering cartilage tying, please make sure to look into it carefully! And please remember that if it shows enough to be noticeable in photos, it is much, much more noticeable in real lifeㅜㅜ
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