Crooked nose correction + osteotomy + depressed nose + silicone + donor rib cartilage + deviated septum + rhinitis
(Long post ahead)
Hello. I’ve read a lot of surgery reviews, but I never thought I’d be writing my own until just a few weeks ago.
When I was little, I smashed my nose into a soccer goalpost, so I’ve always had a complex about my nose.
It’s the most central part of the face, and in body terms it plays the role of the trunk, to which the limbs and neck are all attached. Just as the trapezius area between the brows should be absent so the neck looks long and the shoulders look square, and just as the nostrils and alae of the nose should be balanced like the pelvis so the legs look long and the waist looks narrow in proportion to the volume, the trunk plays a very important role in the body. And of course, all the important organs are in the upper body.
That’s why I think the nose plays the biggest role on the face, both functionally and aesthetically.
That’s also why, if you look at the proportions of plastic surgery areas, the nose accounts for a surprisingly large share for men.
Up until now, I hadn’t really cared and just lived without thinking much about it, but I started seriously thinking about whether to have surgery around age 24. In the military, I used to envy the guys whose masks stood up sharply over their noses, forming a triangular shape like a mountain when viewed from above.
I also care a lot about clothes, so when I saw people who looked good in hats, glasses, sunglasses, and so on, I realized that although facial shape matters, the nose is important whether the look is flashy or natural.
As you can see, I had always been worrying about the aesthetic part of the nose. I hadn’t even thought about function. I didn’t want to know that much detail, and I wasn’t trying to find out either.
By chance I went to an ENT clinic and got an endoscopy, and the doctor said I had a deviated septum. They said this place only makes diagnoses, so they filled out a referral form and told me to go to a university hospital or a plastic surgery clinic for surgery.
Because of COVID, I unexpectedly had a little extra time, and thoughts about the nose I had always considered a complex started running wild in my head.
I had already been shopping around for cosmetic purposes and making a list of clinics, but since I was also in a situation where I needed functional surgery, I instinctively felt that if I did it that way, the crooked nose wouldn’t bend again later and the rhinitis and deviated septum wouldn’t come back.
So I tore up the list I had made through shadowboxing and started over, making a new list of clinics that did both cosmetic and functional surgery.
As the saying goes, if your head is bad, your body suffers, so it was my fault for making a list before properly identifying the problem with my nose in the first place...
If you look at this community and various cafes and apps, clinics that do functional + cosmetic surgery are almost formulaically narrowed down to 3-5 places.
ㅍㄹㅁㅇ, ㅅㄷㄹㄹ, ㅂ, ㅁㅈ, etc.
I wanted a somewhat flashy nose. Considering the way I dress and my facial features... as you can see from the photos, because of my brow ridge, somewhat protruding chin and cheekbones, and broad facial contour, I personally judged that a natural-looking nose wouldn’t suit my current state. Of course, if I ever end up doing contour surgery later, I’d need revision surgery to adjust the nose’s proportions... but I decided to give up on the dream of contour surgery. The reason will probably make sense as you keep reading I really respect people who’ve had contour surgery.
1. ㅍㄹㅁㅇ was the most famous. Dr. C.
Appointments for consultations were heavily booked, there were many people who had surgery there, and a popular place has reasons for being popular, so I definitely wanted a consultation...
But it was hard to fit the timing. That was due to my personal circumstances. Because of my work and daily routine, I couldn’t set aside many days... I had to get everything done in one shot on a single day.
So I read a lot of written reviews and looked at photos. The shape was beautiful and the reviews were good. I really wanted to ask exactly how they would operate on my nose, but unfortunately, from the reviews alone, it was exactly the style I wanted.
2. ㅅㄷㄹㄹ
I started paying attention to ㅅㄷㄹㄹ recently while searching around. I have insurance, and ㅅㄷㄹㄹ seemed to get 90% coverage... As everyone knows, when it comes to insurance claims, if it’s cosmetic + functional, only the functional part is covered.
But I heard that at ㅅㄷㄹㄹ, if you have the surgery as a functional case, insurance coverage is possible, so it was definitely attractive financially. They also seemed to prefer a natural look.
I understand a lot of aspiring entertainers, actors, and model trainees go there.
3. ㅂ
It was apparently the second most famous clinic for functional + cosmetic surgery after ㅍㄹㅁㅇ. Because they tend to favor natural results, I only looked at written and photo reviews, and the shape wasn’t really my style, so I deliberated until the end and eventually didn’t go there.
4. ㅁㅈ
Like ㅅㄷㄹㄹ, a lot of aspiring entertainers, actors, and models go there, and it seems many people know about it through word of mouth. That alone shows confidence, but I saw many reviews saying they use autologous costal cartilage for the first surgery, so the cost for a first operation was quoted at almost revision-surgery level...
I thought about getting at least one consultation, but appointments were also very backed up, so I studied through online research instead.
5. Jo & Shin
This was the first time I learned about the name Jo & Shin Plastic Surgery while researching online. Honestly, I decided on surgery more because of the surgeon than the clinic.
If you’ve searched even a little about flashy noses, you probably know: Dr. G at ㅂㄹㅇ, Dr. C at ㅍㄹㅁㅇ, and Dr. Lee Gyeong-muk.
Originally, when I was only thinking about cosmetic surgery, I had those three on my list because I wanted something flashy yet natural and refined. They really are the two major camps, not in the sense that one surgeon is better than the other, but because these doctors are already at a very high level in that field, so I decided I had to visit all three.
But Dr. Lee Gyeong-muk left the clinic he had originally been at and took a break for a while, and during that time I also temporarily set aside my intention to have nose surgery.
This time, after checking again, I found out he had moved to Jo & Shin Plastic Surgery. I didn’t know much about the clinic itself, but I had consumed a lot of information from online research and from the surgical knowledge he posted on YouTube, so I really wanted to get a consultation. Dr. G at ㅂㄹㅇ was trustworthy because a friend had surgery there, and I absolutely wanted consultations with Dr. C at ㅍㄹㅁㅇ and Dr. Lee Gyeong-muk at Jo & Shin.
Fortunately, consultations weren’t heavily booked, so I could get one a week later. He looked at my nose from every angle and gave me a precise and honest consultation. I didn’t bring celebrity photos or SNS star photos in the first place, because as everyone knows, when you consider skin thickness and many other factors, the body conditions are different, so it’s impossible to get an exactly identical shape.:)
Of course, most surgeons already know this. But Dr. Lee Gyeong-muk goes further and designs the nose to suit the patient’s current condition. I’m skipping the ideal nose-design details like nasolabial angle and nostril size, because there’s plenty of that on YouTube and there are many experts better than me. I also liked the fact that he would design it to fit my face using his own know-how.
Out of the five clinics on my list, including online research, I’d say I looked into about 15-20 places. Some I visited for offline consultations, and some I couldn’t even consider because of reservation issues.
Anyway, the list was narrowed down, so you all passed the first gate
Among the listed clinics, some were said to have kind surgeons and managers, some not so kind, and some managers pushed the deposit too hard, while others were considerate and told me not to 부담 myself and to think it through. Seeing the same things I’d read about in reviews and communities happen in person, I felt more curious than upset. That’s their job, so there was nothing too uncomfortable. I just thick-skinnedly said no if I didn’t like something. Price was important, but my priorities were 1. safety 2. function 3. design, so deposit pressure, events, requests for reviews, and the like were not my business.
Because if I’m satisfied, I’ll write a review voluntarily anyway:)
Other than that, I also set and narrowed down the criteria you probably often see when choosing a clinic.
1. Is the surgeon a board-certified plastic surgeon? 2. Is the doctor registered with the Korean Medical Association? 3. Is there CCTV inside the operating room? 4. Is an anesthesiologist physically present at the clinic? 5. Was it not recently opened as a fly-by-night operation? 6. Blacklists, shadow doctors, and so on.
+These days, surgeons also appear everywhere, so I watched all the things they said in articles and YouTube, and I even did some keyword-search grinding on Google. Just as chefs each have their own specialty dish or ingredient they handle best, I thought plastic surgeons also have nose shapes they’re especially good at, so I tried to learn as much as possible about each doctor’s style as well.:)
After filtering the clinics by my own criteria and going to consultations, I adjusted the leave I could take and scheduled the surgery date, and fortunately I was able to have it with the surgeon I liked the most
When I booked the consultation, I wanted to get it done quickly and have surgery right away... But as the surgery date got closer by a day or two, I started thinking, ‘Did I overthink this? Should I just live with the nose I was born with...’ I even wondered if I should give up the surgery deposit and just not do it... But then I thought about the stress I’d carried for more than 20 years and looked at my before-and-after photos taken with the iPhone front camera from the front and 45 degrees... and thought, okay, I have to do this. I gathered myself and made up my mind again.
After booking surgery, I could contact the manager via KakaoTalk and text at any time if I had questions or needed precautions. It felt a bit like being cared for meticulously in a solid mid-sized company rather than a giant factory hospital, like a plant in a greenhouse.
On the morning of surgery, I came to the clinic, and they explained precautions, management methods, and signatures in advance so that after recovery from surgery I could go home comfortably. If a guardian had come with me, these details might not have stood out much, but I went alone, like a lone wolf. If you think of it as serious, it’s a difficult surgery; if you think of it as simple, it’s a simple surgery.:)
Before entering the operating room, I had a final consultation with the surgeon. There are always variables, like questions I forgot after the first consultation or changes in aesthetic taste.:)
And as an aside, while searching online, I found a KakaoTalk chatroom where the surgeon himself was the host!! I don’t know whether other surgeons do this too, but being able to get answers quickly to questions or concerns without waiting for days was a secret golden-tip point.
Now! Finally, it was time for the long-awaited surgery
I’d heard so many negative stories about anesthesia that I just desperately hoped, like others, that I’d close my eyes and open them in the recovery room. I truly, truly, completely hoped I wouldn’t wake up in the middle...
I’d never had a scalpel put to my body in my life... I’ve never had even the most common LASIK or LASEK surgery, or any anesthesia experience at all. Even the night before surgery, I prayed as I slept that when I opened my eyes, it would all be over...
But somehow, probably because I slept too deeply and was too tense, when they gave me sedative anesthesia, I was anesthetized but didn’t fall asleep... So I’m able to share this vivid review with you all.
When you go into the operating room, they give you a cup with water mixed with red antiseptic to gargle... The taste, smell, and appearance are all the worst. Anyway... okay.... Then they make you lie on the bed and tie your body down. Um... okay, okay.... Last, they cover your eyes....
Before covering my eyes, they inserted an IV needle into my right arm and waited for the surgeon to come. When the surgeon arrived, they gave the sedative and the nurse and surgeon said, ‘You’ll fall asleep soon~.’
At this point, if I just fell asleep, things would proceed exactly as I had imagined, but I started to feel like I was being sucked into some time and space and then it stopped... probably because I was so tense, I didn’t fall asleep... I was seriously panicking here... Still, it was my first surgery, so it was a good experience... I could hear the surgeon asking the nurse for surgical tools and hearing in detail which materials were being used and in what millimeters... So I felt clearly that this definitely wasn’t the kind of surgery many people worry about, with a shadow doctor or a doctor who tells the ‘story only I know’ and doesn’t know the material or silicone millimeters...
Ah, because the surgery process and sensations were so vividly conveyed, I honestly can’t imagine doing contour surgery even if someone paid me for it. I truly respect everyone who has had it...
The first thing they did was osteotomy. They shaved the bone and tapped it lightly with a hammer, and I felt nothing. People call it bone-cutting pain, but fortunately bones have absolutely no cells or sense that feel pain... The most painful parts of nose surgery were the anesthesia injection and when they used suction to pull out bleeding deep inside the nose... They say that when a tool goes deep into the nose it feels like your eyeballs are rolling around, and that’s actually true...
And I realized for the first time how wide my nasal cavity really was... Since they also used lasers for hemostasis during the surgery, there was an occasional smell like grilled dried squid, and because I had been fasting since dinner the night before, it actually made me want squid.
If you’ve had eye-correction surgery and had to do local anesthesia, then open and close your eyes while trying to set the line with the surgeon, you’ll understand this more easily.
No matter how much I counted in my head or tried all sorts of tricks, I couldn’t fall asleep, so I gave up. I just had random thoughts like favorite music or things I needed to handle after leaving. Because the nose was numbed, I didn’t really feel like I was having surgery there; it just felt like a spicy pepper-sprinkled sensation in my nose. Military guys will understand, and non-military folks can imagine a nose full of heavily chlorine-mixed pool water, stinging and burning. Since the surgical bed had the lower body slightly higher than the upper body, I also felt like I needed to pee badly and wanted it to end quickly so I could go to the bathroom... ㅎㄷㄷㄷ
Because I had functional surgery too, every time the surgeon changed tools I lightly inhaled to see whether air was passing through both nostrils. At the beginning of the surgery, one side was blocked, but as it went on, I started feeling air pass through both nostrils, and that made me so happy.
Fortunately, toward the end, around when they sutured the columella, I dozed off for about 10 minutes... I wasn’t dizzy after surgery either. Since I might feel dizzy, I came by public transportation, but I think I could have driven myself home too
After taking a mock exam, you’re most curious about the score, right?? I went into the bathroom to change clothes and took a photo right away as soon as it was over:) Whew, thankfully I’m very satisfied... I hope I manage it well so I never have to go through revision surgery... not knowing, once is okay, but twice would be no way...
I wrote out in as much detail as possible the story of how I spent over 20 years stressed about getting nose surgery and thought carefully for years about whether to do it or not. In my case, I could only find photos, and it was hard to find real first-hand surgery reviews from people who actually had the procedure So I wrote this in detail, sitting at home leaning back in a chair, with a bit of responsibility:)
The most painful parts of nose surgery were... the anesthesia injection and the pre-op nose hair trimming (tears). Honestly, it seems less painful than dental treatment... But there are differences person to person, so not everyone will experience it the same way.:)
Lastly, some people reading this may wonder: for the functional + cosmetic route, why did I choose Jo & Shin Plastic Surgery, when it has much less data than ㅍㄹㅁㅇ, ㅂ, and ㅅㄷㄹㄹ? The decisive reason was one sentence from Dr. Lee Gyeong-muk on YouTube.
‘The most important thing in nose surgery is the surgeon’s anatomical understanding.’ ‘To avoid complications such as inflammation or infection, perfect hemostasis and a fast procedure are necessary.’
Those were the two points. Of course, once the columella is opened, infection begins from that point, so perfect hemostasis and a fast surgery are good things. But if you don’t build a perfect structure anatomically and design-wise and just cover it with silicone, so that post-op control is impossible, then what’s the point?? It would all be for nothing.
Dr. Lee Gyeong-muk said in a YouTube video that he has a bit of perfectionism and obsessive tendency, so even if the surgery time gets a little longer, it has to be safe and perfect before he closes. That gave me confidence that I could trust him with my nose as well:)
What I felt while having nose surgery is no pain, no gain:)
If there’s some reaction, I’ll also post the 2-week, 1-month, and 3-4 month recovery process and progress photos:)
Thank you for reading such a long post.
------------------------------------------ It’s finally been a little over 2 weeks since the surgery, so I’m writing the 2-week review now haha...
Straight to the point.
Day 2 after surgery...
Up to this point, I hadn’t properly searched about life after surgery
I only knew about ways to reduce swelling and cold compresses
I hadn’t looked into the day-by-day recovery process or how to respond to it
Only when I was faced with it did I start searching for the day-by-day recovery after surgery
Up to day 2, the blood remaining in the nose flows down under the nostrils along the packing. They put gauze across the nostrils horizontally.
For those of you who had a lot of osteotomy like me, the bleeding can be a bit heavy, so the manager did prepare plenty of gauze, but depending on the case you might still run short, so it’s good to buy some in advance too
Changing gauze is easy, but surprisingly the feeling of liquid flowing along the packing makes the nostrils itchy... like gently tickling the nostrils with a foxtail grass stem...
On day 2, the area around the eyes, centered on the cheekbones, was quite swollen. If 100 is the maximum, I think I swelled to about 50:)
My face was swollen and it was hard to open my mouth wide too (I was also afraid the stitched area might open, and the splint and gauze on my face made it uncomfortable to open my mouth wide).
So I ate a lot of soft foods that didn’t require opening my mouth much, and I put a straw in drinks...
Day 3 after surgery...
That morning I was a little startled, because when I looked in the mirror I saw the blood-clot-covered face I had only seen in surgery reviews
I had a C-shaped crooked nose, so because I had a lot of osteotomy, I also had some bruising and swelling
From the cheekbones up and down, everything was swollen. If you think of it as 100, maybe around 70? 75?
The swelling had gone down below my cheeks, making my face look rectangular... and my eyes were also so swollen that even if eye crust formed, it didn’t come out easily... weirdly, that was addictive.
Digging through the crease of the puffed-up eyes....
By day 3, I started to understand why people worry that the surgery went wrong...
I also only found out after surgery that both sides swell differently
I vaguely remembered the manager explaining this carefully before surgery, but because I was so tense, I couldn’t really take in what was being said....
In my case, because I had a C-shaped crooked nose, if you imagine the right and left nostrils, one side was osteotomized about 8 and the other about 2. The side with the 8 ratio swelled more.
So visually, the nose looked crooked:) I tried not to worry about it, but when I looked in the mirror I did think, ‘Is this really the best correction for my crooked nose?’ with a bit of concern....
You can only tell once the swelling goes down Until then, all you can do is wait patiently like a monk.
Anyway, if you post it to the manager or to a plastic surgery forum, all we’re going to hear is ‘it’s just swelling’ anyway....
Of course!! Still, in the worst case, it could really be something like the columella being sutured obviously off-center or the silicone turning completely, so after taking a few photos, there’s no need to hesitate to ask the clinic manager or the experts scattered around plastic surgery communities for help:)
But in most cases it’s just swelling, which is why I’m saying this
And because the nasal tip gradually drops after surgery, from immediately after surgery up to week 2, the tip is a bit high in a straight-to-slightly-upturned shape.
Sometimes when people write that they had nose surgery and ended up with a button nose, this may be why:)
It takes at least 2 weeks to 1 month for the tip to drop, so I’m just patiently waiting
Up to day 3, blood that had remained inside my nose kept coming out I searched to see how long it would continue.
As senior surgery patients said, it really only came out until day 3, and from day 4 onward it almost stopped:)
Even on day 3, it wasn’t that much, so don’t worry too much.
Day 4 after surgery...
On day 4, the swelling really reached its peak:( about 85-90 out of 100
It was quite a sight, like Pepsi Man...
Finally, it was the long-awaited day to go remove the packing from inside the nose.
Because I have chronic deviated septum and chronic rhinitis, I don’t breathe well through my nose, so having packing inside was more tolerable than I expected.
On the day of surgery, before entering the operating room, I visited Jo & Shin Plastic Surgery at the scheduled time, thanks to the manager’s consideration
Ah right! Fortunately I didn’t use ear cartilage, so I could wash my hair at home... Not using even one bit of ear cartilage made daily life a little more comfortable
If you go into the outpatient treatment room and lie down in a chair like a dental chair, the nurse comes and removes the packing and does the dressing:)
Before surgery they told me that even after surgery for rhinitis and a deviated septum, the mucosa would be swollen, so I’d have to wait at least 2 weeks to a month before breathing through both nostrils, but surprisingly, the moment the packing came out, air flowed through both nostrils and I felt cool relief all the way to my brain and throat...
Maybe it was even cooler because they disinfected the inside of the nose with alcohol during dressing
It’s easy to understand if you think about the feeling of drinking water after eating a mint candy:)
Breathing through both nostrils.... it was so blissful:)
The nurse applied ointment after the dressing, and then the surgeon came and checked my recovery:)
Then I went to the laser swelling treatment room for treatment...
The manager looked at my face and said I was quite swollen, so they extended the laser swelling treatment time a bit more:) Thank you, manager:(
Even though it was a bit past quitting time, they still cared for me without complaint:)
Ah, after the laser swelling treatment, the nurse gives an antibiotic injection:) I was also taking antibiotics three times a day with the prescribed medication, but on this day they gave it through an IV injection.
It’s to prevent inflammation, so even if it hurts, you have to bear with it a little:(
Day 5 after surgery...
Up until this point, the swelling from the previous day had just continued:) The bruised, blood-clotted face had mostly shifted from purple bruising to yellow bruising
From this point on, it was really a bit hard to endure:( More than the packing, the splint + tape + natural oil formed a terrible combination, and the sides of my nostrils and the space between my brows were so unbearably itchy I thought I’d go crazy.
That was the hardest thing to endure. I scratched around with toothpicks and cotton swabs, and for areas I couldn’t reach, I endured while singing the national anthem.... Until the day 7 splint removal, this was the most painful part...
If you’ve ever had a full cast on your arms or legs, it’s like the itching between your toes or fingers... ah...
Day 6 after surgery...
Same as day 5. I scheduled the day 7 splint removal appointment for right when Jo & Shin Plastic Surgery opened, and that was the second-best thing I did this year.
Day 7 after surgery...
Early in the morning I went to Jo & Shin to remove the splint:) I also decided to remove the outer stitches on the columella that day.
Just like on day 4 when the packing was removed, I lay down in the dental-chair-like outpatient room and the nurse came to greet me
Ah! Even after the packing came out, I still felt a slight foreign-body sensation inside the nose, and it turned out they had placed a plastic support inside the nostrils. I think it serves as support so the nose can withstand external impact or deformation.
It seemed like a plastic support, a bit like a mouth gag, that kept the nostrils from closing and helped them stay open.
The nurse removed the splint while I was lying down, peeled off the tape coated with natural oil, disinfected the nose, and then removed the plastic support...
It didn’t hurt, but just touching the inside of the nose made tears come automatically. Don’t be surprised... the nurse smoothly wiped away the tears with cotton.
Taking out the plastic support was the second most refreshing thing after removing the packing....
Then they removed the outer stitches around the columella, and I’d heard many reviews saying this was painful, so I got a little nervous again, just like during surgery.
If there are about 10 stitches, then the pain is like the pain of pulling off skin near the side of a fingernail, plus or minus a little
Unlike its reputation, it was manageable...
After treatment, I moved to the swelling laser treatment room. On this day, the major swelling had already gone down a lot, so they didn’t do the laser for very long
After the laser treatment, I talked with the surgeon for the first time about the surgery progress with the splint off:)
Having to discuss the surgery outcome in front of the surgeon, manager, and nurse after not washing properly for a week made it hard for the story to really sink in, but...
It’s an important event, so please bear with it and discuss it carefully The surgeon, Dr. Lee Gyeong-muk, actually seemed even happier that the surgery went well:) Thank you.
When the procedure and consultation were over, the manager helped me schedule the 2-week follow-up:) I just set the time and went home.
Once the splint comes off, the cycle stays almost the same until week 2.
Because I had crooked nose correction, Dr. Lee Gyeong-muk said he’d like me to keep the splint on for about a month:(
I was so satisfied with the surgical result that I wanted to free myself from the splint and move around freely right away... but I held back and listened to the surgeon.
From immediately after surgery until at least the 2-week mark, it’s the period that determines the future shape of the nose, so he emphasized to be careful, careful, and careful...
But somehow I kept touching my nose in the most absurd ways
Because my hand lost its sense of distance from the higher bridge, I’d brush it while rubbing my eyes, or bump it while putting on clothes... a pleasant change, I suppose 껄껄껄
Since Dr. Lee Gyeong-muk had thoroughly stopped the bleeding as much as possible, after day 7 the major swelling had mostly gone down and only a little yellow bruising remained on my face:)
The side profile swelling was almost completely gone, and from the front... the nose looked a bit like a button nose, but since they say it takes about a month for it to be about 80% settled, I think I need to wait a bit longer:)
2 weeks after surgery...
This was the day to go remove the internal stitches... and I’d heard that they hurt more than the outer stitches, so I was very tense again.....
When I lay down in the dental chair, the nurse came to do the dressing and remove the stitches...
Yes... they do hurt more than the outer stitches:( I’d say the pain is about plus or minus the level of pulling nose hairs
If there are 10 stitches on one side, about 4 of them feel like pulling nose hairs, 2 don’t hurt, and the remaining 4 are plus...
After removing the stitches, they checked several times to make sure there were no stitches left inside the nose, then applied ointment.
After the laser swelling treatment, I had a consultation with the surgeon about the recovery progress:)
As the swelling was going down day by day, the surgeon checked me every time I visited and discussed the recovery with me
Fortunately, there were no events that caused any major impact to the nose, so the surgeon said to keep managing it just like this and definitely keep the splint on until the 1-month mark:)
I saw in other surgery reviews that everyone walks for about an hour every day, drinks pumpkin juice, buys swelling pills from the pharmacy, and does cold and hot compresses..
The manager also explained those methods to me... but I was lazy and did none of them
The only thing I really did was... probably taking a nap while sitting down until the packing came out...? Because Dr. Lee Gyeong-muk had carefully stopped the bleeding and closed everything up, the swelling went down quickly
I later found out that because I didn’t fall asleep in the operating room, I ended up unintentionally hearing the surgeon and nurse talking during the operation
They asked for AlloDerm, and I thought it was like DuoDerm or Tegaderm, some kind of medical tape or bandage because those products also end in ‘-derm’... but it turned out to be artificial dermis often used for burn treatment:)
They finished by using AlloDerm additionally so the nasal tip cartilage wouldn’t show through, and since there was no separate extra charge or explanation, I didn’t know:)
Once again, thank you to Dr. Lee Gyeong-muk for being so meticulous
When the surgeon checked my post-op progress, he said they had corrected the crooked nose as much as possible, but because the surgeon’s idea of ‘as much as possible’ and my own idea of ‘as much as possible’ were different, there can be differences of opinion after surgery. If you’re sensitive about this, make sure to discuss it in detail with the surgeon before surgery:) I... just trusted and left it in his hands
I’m the kind of person with symmetry obsession, the kind of degenerate who thinks if the left cheek gets hit, the right side has to get hit too. Perhaps he noticed that right away, because the surgeon sutured the columella and nostrils to about 95% symmetry.
He probably could have matched them 100%, but if he matched the nostrils, something else would have become misaligned, so I think he made the best possible choice...
Our faces are three-dimensional and asymmetrical, so if you match one thing, something else shifts, and I think that’s very important:) Even eye height and nostril height don’t line up exactly, so it seems the know-how lies in harmonizing them well.
The thing I emphasized most during consultation was, ‘Please make it natural but flashy,’ which now that I think about it is as contradictory as saying, ‘Please give me a warm iced Americano’
Looking back, what I meant was, ‘natural’ means fitting my face, and ‘flashy’ means pretty. The design came out exactly the way I wanted, and I’m very satisfied:)
That concludes my 1-month follow-up.
Because I had to keep the splint on until the 1-month mark, I couldn’t wash properly and my skin is a mess... sorry for the acne eye-sore...
The photos are, in order, before surgery, immediately after surgery, 2 weeks after surgery, and 1 month after surgery. After surgery, I mostly just heard people ask if I lost weight. Until I said something, people around me didn’t really know I’d had nose surgery:)
In the end, the flashy-yet-natural shape I emphasized to the surgeon before surgery seems to have been a success I’m so satisfied.
Thank you for reading such a long post.