Hello? First of all, the writer is male, and I had surgery on January 30: 5.5 mm silicone on the nasal bridge / septal cartilage for the nose tip. As of today, it has been one month since the surgery. The content below is just my subjective experience and thoughts, so please use it only as a reference ^^ Please understand if there are typos
(Before the nose surgery) Before the surgery, after thinking and thinking very carefully, I mostly got hospital recommendations from people around me who had nose surgery, and I also looked things up online and went around getting consultations. I had exactly 15 consultations, and out of those 15, 3 stood out to me, which narrowed it down to the 1st choice ㅂㄴㅂㄱ, 2nd choice ㄷㅇㅇ, and 3rd choice ㅂ, and my choice was Director ㅇㅅㅎ at the 2nd-choice hospital ㄷㅇㅇ. The reason was that 9 or 10 hospital directors among the 15 said they did not recommend surgery and stopped me, saying my nose was already fine enough. Even before surgery, the people around me also stopped me, saying, “Your nose is fine, why do it?” but human greed has no end... Still, the directors at the 3 hospitals above explained things like what shape and position they would use if I did go ahead, how they would handle the nasal bridge and the nose tip, and so on. Especially at the 3rd choice, ㅂ, even from the consultation they took a CT and accurately checked the inside of my nose. At the 1st choice, ㅂㄴㅂㄱ, the hospital itself was such a huge large hospital that the consultation and the doctor seemed trustworthy, but for some reason I felt uneasy and passed on it, and in the end I went with ㄷㅇㅇ, which was my 2nd choice. Before surgery, please be careful and think it through. Especially before surgery, check in advance how much asymmetry your nose shape has, along with side photos, front photos, and how uneven your nostrils are I didn’t know it in my whole life, but when I became interested before surgery and measured the angles with a ruler, I found I was asymmetrical It wasn’t severe, though It was fascinating.
(On the day of surgery) I’m extremely chicken. I was very nervous before surgery.... What if the anesthesia doesn’t work... What if I wake up during it... What if surgery hurts Surgery really does not hurt at all The most painful part was the blood draw during the pre-op blood test And right before surgery, there are blood tests, an ECG, CT, X-ray, and I don’t remember everything, but they do a ton of tests You get the anesthesia injection in your arm, and five seconds later it’s blackout, and when you wake up, you’re in the recovery room. The moment I woke up, my throat was insanely dry and scratchy, like someone who hasn’t had water for 10 years and I couldn’t breathe From here on, the pain starts. However, there was zero pain from the nose itself after the surgery... Only the pain of having trouble breathing
(2 days after surgery) I joined a community after surgery, searched around because of the breathing, and as I kept searching I saw all kinds of posts about complications, which made me really scared And there was no swelling~ So I thought, ah, I must be the type who does well with cosmetic surgery. Also, because I couldn’t breathe through my nose, I slept with my mouth open and suffered I couldn’t even sleep 4 to 5 hours a day The lucky thing was I work for myself, so I took time off and stayed home only....
(3 to 5 days after surgery) Other people have all the cotton removed from inside the nose on days 2 to 3, but the hospital told me to come in on day 4 I found out the reason later... There was never any cotton inside my nose in the first place ㅡㅡ They were stopping the bleeding with a silicone sheet inside the nose I searched and found that when surgery is done with the septum, they block it with a silicone sheet And from day 3 onward, the swelling gets severe I have pretty strong double eyelids, and they swelled until my double eyelids looked puffed up Looking in the mirror at home, I worried that maybe something was going wrong On day 4, they removed the tape in front of the nose, disinfected it, and taped it again~ Removing the tape hurts a little but it’s bearable By day 5, the swelling had mostly gone down~ I did ice packs and went on 30-minute walks around the neighborhood while facing cool air. It helped a lot I followed what I had seen in that community too. And the thing I read the most posts about was that the nostrils looked too asymmetrical after surgery... At that time I also worried a lot after seeing the nostril asymmetry That worry disappears completely by around the 2-week mark... It returns to about 90% symmetry, and gradually goes back to the pre-op symmetry. But they don’t become 100% identical... Even before surgery, human nostrils are uneven. You just don’t notice it because the difference isn’t that big
(7 days after surgery) I went to the hospital, they removed the silicone sheet from inside the nose, disinfected the inside of the nose, removed the stitches on the outside of the nose, applied ointment to the surgical scar under the nose, and removed the splint-like support while taking off the tape. That was the first time I saw my nose. Total mental collapse... While talking with the doctor in charge and hearing various explanations, I felt very disappointed when I first saw the shape... It was completely avatar-like, and the nose tip was blunt and very lifted I had a total breakdown. The doctor said I would like it once the swelling went down, and kept touching the nose like this and that, looking satisfied and pleased with it on his own ㅡㅡ I came home and searched that community and got anxious.... Ah, and when they remove the silicone sheet inside the nose, it hurts like crazy Seriously, among nose surgery pain, the pain in the nose is five stars Be prepared
(Days 8 to 14 after surgery) Most of the big swelling is gone and only the residual swelling remains, and at the 2-week mark they remove the internal stitches... That also hurts a little, but it’s bearable. However... I still didn’t like the shape..... At this point, the nostril asymmetry had gone back and I felt relieved, but the nose tip looked crooked Before surgery, my nose looked a little crooked... It may look even more noticeable now... But that worry also disappears after about a month It gradually moves toward the center I think my nose tip is less crooked now than before surgery
(20 days after surgery) It seems like most of the residual swelling has gone down, but my eyes still look close together and the avatar look is getting much better. The nose tip is starting to come down and it seems like the swelling is fading a bit
(One month after surgery) I absolutely love the shape The avatar look is completely gone, and the eyes looking close together are also starting to improve from this point The doctor said he was worried that the nose tip would come down more, but I like it so much right now that that’s what I’m worried about Right after surgery it was so high that it was scary, but somehow... now I’m worried it will droop When deciding on 5.5 mm for the nasal bridge, people around me said, isn’t that too high? People in that community also said, isn’t that too high?... but now I think I want 8 mm And I think a man’s nasal bridge should be high, but please assess the forehead height and how much the forehead protrudes before deciding the silicone thickness... For me, the forehead height and degree of flatness meant it was a face that could handle a higher bridge. My skin wasn’t thin either I chose 5.5 mm after shaping a 6 mm piece down, and decided together with the doctor in charge, so discuss it with your doctor too~
(Side effects) From day 1 until now, the thing I’ve worried about most is discomfort breathing through my nose So on day 20 I went to an ENT clinic, and they said there was blood pooled inside my nose ㅡㅡ.... I was really shocked..... But they told me not to worry... It wasn’t blood pooling because the glabella or the silicone had shifted, but rather because he thought the bleeding control after surgery hadn’t been good. At that point, the ENT doctor very strongly criticized plastic surgery doctors, saying they only make the shape look good but don’t fully control bleeding I asked a lot of questions because I was worried After treatment and a prescription for antibiotics, I came out, and at that time I could breathe through my nose incredibly well and could smell well too, but it didn’t even last three days before it got blocked again. So I went once more and had the blood removed, and only about one-third as much came out compared to the first time, and then it opened up again and got blocked again. But the blockage is not as bad as before, just very slightly? Still, I can’t breathe as well as before the nose surgery but it keeps getting better day by day, and they explained that there is still swelling inside the nose, so that’s why, which was reassuring I hope breathing becomes easy like it was before surgery soon... When I go for the post-op care program that the plastic surgery clinic provides after a month and a half, they said they would schedule a consultation with the doctor and see how things are until then I really hope nothing happens... I like the shape so much, but if I had to remove the silicone, I think I’d have a mental breakdown
(Personal thoughts) If you’re very unhappy with your current nose shape, or if you want surgery to make a nose that looks obviously operated on but high and pretty, then go ahead... If you just want something natural and only a slight height increase from your current nose, I wouldn’t recommend taking this kind of risk... I don’t think you realize how stressful losing nose function can be
And a lot of people worry about foreign-body sensation in the nose, but I don’t really feel it much... I don’t even know the silicone is there except that the nose tip feels very hard I can’t even fit a finger into my nostril, so I always have cotton swabs with me and use them. The columella area gets pulled when I lower my face, and my nose gets pulled when I smile or sneeze It’s very uncomfortable, but for me it’s bearable
If someone can wear a coat in the dead of winter and still look stylish and pretty no matter how cold it is, I think they can endure the foreign-body sensation after nose surgery for the sake of appearance I’m sensitive too, but because my nose is pretty, the sensation is nothing But if you think, it’s freezing, what coat? padded jacket only... I don’t care about appearance, then please think carefully.....
And for the nose tip, I recommend septal cartilage rather than ear cartilage. I’ve hardly seen anyone around me who was satisfied after using ear cartilage... People often use ear cartilage because it feels more natural and less hard... but the downside is that over time the nose tip comes down... If that’s the case, it might be better to get a semi-permanent option like nose filler or tying the nose tip with thread... Septal cartilage is very hard, but over time even that hardness becomes familiar and it feels like it softens There are pros and cons, so decide based on your own preference~~
This is only my experience and my subjective thoughts, so please use it only as a reference~~~
And I have a question for people who are more than two months post-op from nose surgery: When does the swelling inside the nose completely go down so breathing returns to how it was before? Please leave a comment
(Additional) Before surgery, I wrote in my memo app: 1. I don’t want an upturned nose that looks straight up from below after surgery. 2. My nostrils looked too small, so I also didn’t want a sharp arrowhead shape. 3. I saw a side effect post about silicone shifting, so please make sure the silicone sits well. That was my request, and during the pre-op meeting with the doctor I begged like crazy The doctor laughed If I could go back, I think I would add a request to be extra careful with bleeding control Please strongly say again right before surgery what you want and hand over the memo app note