I deleted my previous review and am leaving a 4-week review!
The cartilage was showing through severely at the nasal tip (the typical round ear-cartilage bulge), and the skin had turned red, but I guess that part won't improve. You can see the redness in the front-facing photo, right? I think they did say that even if the cartilage was removed, the skin damage would remain the same. Anyway, other than that, I'm satisfied so far, but it still sometimes stings and sometimes itches, probably because it's still recovering hard, right..? I can't really remember whether it also zinged up to one month after my previous surgery.
It seems some people start massage around this time, but the nasal tip still feels very firm and swollen, so I can't even imagine massaging it. I'm just pressing the nasal ala a little. Is now really the right time to massage?
I'm also curious whether it's normal for this much swelling to still remain. Since it's been one month, the contracture phase could start now, but it doesn't look like it is likely to lift up, so I'm not too worried.
Since I had about 4 mm of silicone removed, I worried whether I would feel a big sense of loss or whether I would be more stressed about the shape after actually removing it, but there is none of that at all, and I'm so happy. I had slight breathing stuffiness, and during removal they did a spreader graft only on the left side. Now it feels so comfortable and good functionally too. In winter, I used to lie down and keep sniffing through my nose every day, trying to figure out which nostril was blocked, and I slept badly.. That won't happen again, rightㅠㅠ
In the end, the four things I wanted most desperately before surgery were: 1. For my nostrils not to show from the front 2. No columellar retraction 3. A borderline limit for dorsal irregularity 4. No functional problems
I think all of these were achieved. Especially for numbers 1 and 2, they had told me not to worry at all, and I think the surgery turned out as promised.
For the removal, donor costal cartilage (the extended part), silicone, and the columellar strut (septal cartilage) were removed; ear cartilage was reused at the nasal tip + since that wasn't enough, a small additional amount of ear cartilage was harvested.
Now I just really hope the remaining swelling goes down well... The clinic isn't a well-known place here, and I'm not sure whether it's okay to disclose it, so for now, after I fully recover, I'll share it with the people who sent me messages. After the remaining nasal tip swelling goes down and the contracture phase passes, I'll leave replies. I'll delete this post in a few days.
Likes 7