My last surgery was silicone + ear cartilage + septal extension, and at first it looked so pretty, but after a few years, as you can see in the photos, the skin at my nasal tip became so thin that the cartilage showed through badly, and it looked very obvious that I had surgery. I didn’t have inflammation or functional problems, but contracture was progressing, so my nose became shorter and upturned. (The director who later did my removal told me that the silicone was thin but had been inserted a bit long, and said contracture tends to happen easily in cases like this…) I had consultations at hospitals specializing in removal, and among them, I chose a place that said full removal + cartilage repositioning alone would likely be enough. Some hospitals suggested reinforcement of the septum/columella or revision surgery on the nasal tip, saying that if everything was simply removed, the nose would become upturned or collapse, but I didn’t want to put anything in again, so I decided to do removal only. I think the surgery took about 1 hour? As for anesthesia, it felt like the first half was sedation and the second half was local anesthesia… Until now, I had only had nose surgeries under sedation, so I was extremely worried and scared about this part, but honestly it was nothing much lol I could hear all the sounds, and sometimes I felt pushing or pulling, but when I told the director it felt a little uncomfortable, they immediately gave me more anesthesia, so I didn’t feel anything. After the surgery, the consultant showed me all the photos of the surgical process and the removed materials in the recovery room, and the director also came in briefly, explained that the surgery went well, and left. Since the skin at my nasal tip had become so thin and translucent, there was indeed some depression… (They confirmed it with photos.) So they said they trimmed the existing cartilage and filled that area with it. Everything else, including the nasal bridge, nasal tip, and columella, was fully removed. There wasn’t much scar tissue, and because my skin was too thin and the capsule itself originally wasn’t large, it hadn’t formed like tissue, so they only scraped and removed the lower capsule. Other hospitals had said that if everything was removed, my nose would become very upturned. But they say it will come down more from its current state, and I already feel okay with it at this level, so I’m relieved for now. (But because of the surgery I had a long time ago, it won’t come down to the level of my original nose.) I was also worried that if the columella was removed, columellar retraction might happen, but it seems okay. There was also a hospital that said septal reinforcement was necessary, but the director said a small nose like mine is fine, and that reinforcement could instead make breathing difficult or be palpable, which would bother me. Everyone, please go to several consultations and look into it, because doctors can all say different things. Honestly, most of the worries we have don’t seem to actually happen… The first two days were so, so hard because I had to breathe through my mouth due to the cotton packingㅠㅠ I barely slept… It was torture. The cotton was removed on day 3, and today, day 5, the splint was removed. The external stitches are scheduled to be removed on Monday. But what’s fascinating is that I’ve had several nose surgeries until now, and every time, I was the type to swell and bruise a lot?? But this time, from the first day through day 5, I had no swelling or bruising at all… When the splint was removed today, of course there was some bruising and swelling on the bridge. They also did swelling laser treatment on day 3. Since it’s removal, recovery really does seem faster haha As you can see in the photos, my nose before removal looked so strange that even though there’s still swelling after removal, the shape feels much more natural… I’m so happy that there are no foreign materials anymore, I don’t have to worry even if I bump it somewhere later, and I can make a piggy nose too haha I got a lot of information from this community, so I hope this helps even a little! You can roughly figure out the hospital information if you look at my previous post. I also struggled a lot over choosing a hospital… In the end, every hospital has some bad reviews, so I think it’s right to go to consultations and choose the place that matches the surgical approach you want and feels good to you!
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This review is a surgery review pursuing reconstruction.