Hello, I’ve also posted a few times in the removal forum! I had silicone + ear cartilage surgery with no other procedures, and I had it removed 1 year and 7 months later.
I had hoped for complete removal, but only the silicone was removed. This might get a bit long^^
First, my exact surgical method was to very slightly shave the protruding part of the bridge of my nose, then harvest muscle and cartilage from my ear and layer muscle over the ear cartilage.
In the tip of my nose, cartilage was inserted in an extremely thin single layer of less than 1 mm, and the rest was essentially my own muscle.
Rather than inflammation or a complication, I should say the silicone had shifted slightly? I noticed a slight boundary on the skin and went to the hospital. The director offered two options: replace the silicone with a lower one, or remove the silicone and, to make up for the slight sagging of the skin, raise the tip again with cartilage once more (free of charge). The director is someone who speaks very frankly. When I first went for a consultation for surgery, he said that nose surgery, unlike double eyelid surgery, does not gradually become your own and prettier over time. It only looks pretty right after the operation, and as time passes the shape will gradually become less pretty, so you should think of revision surgery on an average timeline of about 5 to 7 years. He also said that the more you touch it, the more likely it is to turn out worse. So when I decided to remove the silicone, he was very supportive, saying that the silicone was what was causing the problem.
He is the type who says exactly what is and isn’t true, clearly and directly. The problem was that I was truly very scared at the time.
Because it was during the semester, I had originally planned to do it during vacation, but I went ahead and had it done immediately, even if it meant missing a week of school. I learned about this community because of the silicone removal, and I learned how dangerous nose surgery can be and how many people suffer from complications. I also learned that just because there’s no problem right now does not mean I should feel safe. I felt like I absolutely couldn’t endure the three months until vacation. I felt like a problem could happen at any moment, and even if the tip of my nose turned a little red, I would shake with anxiety. Why did I ever think this terrifying surgery was something to get excited about? If I could turn back time, I’d want to slap my past self.
Anyway, silicone removal was decided, and the issue was the ear cartilage. Honestly, I was more worried about it sagging later than about cartilage causing inflammation or other problems, so that was why I wanted the cartilage removed too. Of course, the director opposed that.
If the cartilage had been inserted wrongly and was sticking out or something, he would remove it, but why tear out something that is attached properly just to ruin the shape? He said it would become bumpy. I had a long consultation with the director about removing the cartilage.. In the end, we agreed that if it could be removed on the day of surgery, it would be removed, but if it didn’t look like it would come off, then we would leave it alone, and I went into surgery. If the cartilage seems easy to remove, apparently it feels shaky when you hold it.
So the surgery started, and when the silicone had all been taken out, I woke up around the time it was the cartilage’s turn, and I heard the doctor’s voice say, “Ah, this doesn’t look like it’ll come off..”
Because it had been inserted so thinly, I guess the adhesion was severe? If they were going to remove it, they had planned to do it closed, but they said it would have to be done open. I had said “please do everything” while under anesthesia, and then I got scolded in stereo by the nurse and the director Even now I still remember exactly how the director looked straight at me and spoke very firmly then. If your concern is sagging, one thin piece of cartilage like this will not cause sagging. Since the cartilage is not right under the skin but has muscle layered over it, it won’t show through either. But if you insist on making a scar and removing it, it would be almost like carving it out, so what would happen to the shape of the nose then? If you dig it out that much, the nose could start to turn up from that point onward, so that reason doesn’t work. Give another reason.
I didn’t have another reason to give I just felt reassured. Instead, they didn’t add more cartilage to compensate for sagging or anything like that (I didn’t want anything else done to my nose now), and only the silicone was removed.
I had tape on, and it hurt a bit on the day of surgery. They said I could wear glasses, but it hurt so I couldn’t. But really, the empty space where the silicone had been felt soft.. I couldn’t press it hard because it hurt when pressed, but the feeling was strange. The tip of my nose was also very soft skin-like right after, probably because the skin had been stretched.
On the second day, it hurt less, enough that I could wear glasses, and there was no swelling at all, which actually surprised me. The area between the eyebrows looked swollen, but the area around it wasn’t.
From the third day, the eye area swelled a little, and I took off the tape that day. While the tape was on, the nose shape hadn’t changed much, and the director had said it would sag a bit, but I didn’t really notice that. Once the tape came off, it was only that the surrounding area wasn’t swollen; my nose itself was quite puffy. It wasn’t severe, but my brow area looked like an Avatar(see forbidden word) and especially the tip of my nose was swollen. Maybe that’s why, when seen from a 45-degree angle, I thought, ah, so this is what sagging means. It wasn’t that the tip had dropped straight down like a hooked nose, but something else.. in a different sense? I don’t know if it was because the tip was rounded and swollen, but overall the nose felt lowered. The shape wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either.
From about days four to five, the swelling seemed to really start going down. They had said the big swelling would last one week and the minor swelling about three months, and as the tip gradually deflated, the sagging feeling also lessened a bit and it seemed to gradually take shape? The tip, which had felt soft right after surgery, also slowly started to return to the feeling of my old tip.
I can also feel the area between the eyebrows deflating quickly.
And now, one week later, I came back after getting the stitches removed Actually, when only the silicone is removed without touching the tip, they said there would be almost no swelling, so there wasn’t anything like the contraction period other people mention either. Compared with the photos I had taken before, the bridge is almost exactly the same. It feels like only the tip of my old nose was lifted a little. Oh, and since it’s only been a week, it still hurts a bit when I press the tip and it feels strange when I touch it, but I tried the pig nose I tried doing a pig nose? It works I’m too scared to do it all the way, but I think it’ll work well once everything heals. But when I do it, the skin on the bridge wrinkles and you can see the thinned skin. Like a plastic wrapper. Still, it’s not that severe! Now I should also take skincare more seriously
Now that the nose has mostly taken shape, the feeling that it had sagged at the beginning is gone. It looks much prettier than right after the tape came off!
The minor swelling will take time to go down completely, but for now I’m satisfied. It feels clear inside, and my original bridge without silicone is so comfortable. My bridge It’s low, but lovable. Actually, even when I had the silicone in, I didn’t feel that much foreign-body sensation and lived pretty normally, but now that it’s out, if I wear glasses or touch it, it’s clearly much more comfortable than before. My family says they can’t really tell what changed and that they don’t know When I was going through a really hard time, I read recovery stories from this community and got so much help and useful information, especially from photo reviews, that I thought I should upload photos too if I ever leave a review. I had taken photos from various angles. Once I learn how to upload photos properly, I’ll try posting one! I’m posting this in the hope that it might help even a little bit with those who are struggling now, because the people who leave reviews helped me so much. The writing is scattered and really feels like a diary. I hope everyone who is having a hard time right now gets through it well, and I know you will overcome it.
We have all gained a great realization for the same reason. So now all that’s left is happiness.
Wishing everyone strength.