After rhinoplasty, I experienced various side effects. I just endured it and lived with it for 10 years, so there were many upsetting things, but if I list only the side effects:
1. One nostril was blocked -> every time I breathed, it made a sound similar to snoring, and I developed sleep apnea 2. I developed a deviated septum 3. The columella area bent to the side, making the nose itself look crooked 4. The eye on the side of the blocked nostril felt dim, and I had numbness from my head down to my neck 5. The silicone area at the glabella felt severely heavy and painful 6. My brain felt worse (I think this was because I couldn’t breathe well and couldn’t sleep deeply)
Even though the shape of my nose was visibly abnormal and it was also functionally abnormal, my previous rhinoplasty had been so painful that I couldn’t bring myself to do it again. (I woke up in the middle of surgery, and the sound and sensation of my nose being scraped were so frightening that I cried, and the doctor scolded me ㅜㅠ I was scared that if I had surgery again, something worse might happen and the side effects might get worse ㅠㅠ ) I spent 10 years like that, but as time passed, my nose seemed to tilt more and more to one side and the various side effects seemed to worsen, so I gathered courage and spent two months diligently going around for consultations, then had revision surgery.
What I felt after this revision surgery was, ah, I really lived through a very hard 10 years. Everyone says the two days with cotton packed in the nose are hard, but for me they were the same as usual ㅠ because I had always had trouble breathing through my nose and breathed through my mouth. And on the third day, after the cotton was removed, I slept really deeply and felt a refreshing feeling I couldn’t even remember the last time I had felt. People say the third day is also hard to sleep because of swelling, but for me this was a much better condition than usual. Even though silicone was placed during the revision surgery, I no longer have pressure at the glabella, and the dimness in my eye is gone too. My head feels clear and I can study much better as well (I thought my brain had gotten worse because I was aging, but I don’t think that was it!).
If there are people suffering because they can’t breathe well right now, I sincerely hope you don’t lose hope, meet a good doctor, have a successful surgery, and live a higher-quality life going forward. So that the difficult moments won’t feel wasted..! But to find a good doctor, I think I also had to study and learn a lot about the nose. I studied the nasal structure, thought a lot about what the problems with my nose were and what needed to be done to solve them, and organized everything. That way, when you meet a doctor who can operate properly for your nose, you can recognize, this is the one! This isn’t a very substantial review, but I’m leaving it in case my review can give hope to someone. To everyone going through a hard time because of side effects, I sincerely hope you all overcome them as soon as possible and live happy lives.
* In case it helps even a little, I’ll write how I chose the hospital. 1. I organized hospitals famous for revision surgery. Because I had major functional problems, I made a list of “hospitals with an otolaryngology specialist + plastic surgery clinics that do many revision surgeries and have nose lines I like.” 2. I diligently went to consultations and recorded the doctors’ attitudes, hospital atmosphere, and surgical methods. You’ll feel this once you go around for consultations, but doctors have various personalities and various surgical methods they are good at. Because I also had many psychological side effects, I trusted doctors who listened carefully to the side effects I was experiencing and tried to improve them. (To give one anecdote, I went to a hospital famous for revision surgery, but they kept explaining only the technique that hospital was promoting. When I asked how surgery should be done to improve my other issues, the doctor suddenly got angry and said, “I’ll take care of all of that,” so I excluded that hospital. That was because other hospitals said that area was difficult to operate on, but here they got angry while saying they would take care of it, so I wasn’t confident they could solve my problems.) 3. While going to consultations, I added and organized on paper the points doctors mentioned that needed improvement in my nose. 4. I organized the hospitals I trusted. 5. Choose one of them! I think the final choice was the hardest. In the end, I chose one out of three, but they all seemed like good hospitals, so I searched through cafes, apps, and reviews in this community, and even that didn’t narrow it down ㅠㅠㅠ They really all seemed like good hospitals. Since I had to decide somehow, I ultimately decided based on things like which academic societies the doctor was a full member of, how I felt during the consultation, and the surgery date.
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