Before surgery, I had to decide whether to do silicone + septal cartilage or autologous costal cartilage. I normally didn’t feel uncomfortable breathing, but the counseling manager said it was because I had become used to breathing less than other people. They said my septum was deviated, so it would be good to do functional rhinoplasty together and that insurance would cover it. I also told the doctor that I had lived without functional problems in daily life, and said that actually my primary purpose was cosmetic rhinoplasty. After worrying about the material choice, I felt resistant to silicone, so I decided on autologous costal cartilage that would last a lifetime. On the surgery day, the counseling manager handled the surgical consent form. I couldn’t even read it all, and they got all the consents in the style of, “Write your name here and sign~.” I was told that since the surgical material was autologous costal cartilage, there would be no need to use other materials because it wouldn’t be insufficient. During the doctor consultation too, I was only told roughly that they would put autologous costal cartilage in the nasal bridge and use autologous costal cartilage like this as a support at the nasal tip to raise it. During the doctor consultation on the day of surgery, the doctor said, “You said you’ve had cleft lip and palate surgery before, right?” I have facial asymmetry, but I had never had surgery in my life. They didn’t have a grasp of the patient until right before surgery. I should have run out then... I said no and continued the consultation. They said they would crush autologous costal cartilage and place it on the nasal bridge, put an autologous costal cartilage support at the nasal tip, and trim and align the slightly deviated part. At first, I hadn’t looked into what it meant to crush and place autologous costal cartilage... If something I didn’t know came up there, I should have just postponed it... And there was no explanation about functional rhinoplasty. I just thought they were straightening the deviated septum. After surgery ended and I came out, it was almost eight o’clock. I went into surgery around 1:30, so it took nearly 7 hours. After surgery, when I was half-awake, the operating doctor came in briefly, said the surgery went well, said he would be on vacation next week so another doctor would see me, and left. The explanation ended in one minute. After surgery, I had extremely severe bruising. Severe enough that bruises remained even after a month. For the first month, I thought it was just the recovery period. My nose hurt so much and was big, and the area where the rib was harvested hurt so much that it was hard, but I thought it was recovery and endured it. My breathing was blocked for a month to the point that removing the cotton made almost no difference, but I endured it. No matter how many times I went, there wasn’t a single thing I liked: foreign-body sensation, pain, shape. At the one-month follow-up, I asked a bit about what had been done in surgery. To my question, “There wasn’t anything inserted except autologous costal cartilage, right?” they said yes. With removal in mind, I got the surgical records. It said mesh was used. They had clearly said nothing had gone in except my autologous costal cartilage... I made another appointment at two months and visited to ask about the surgical details. Only then did they answer what I asked. “After I had nose surgery too, I asked my teacher this and that, and I got kicked out. But I’m answering everything for you.” When I asked where the mesh was used, “Um, if mesh is used at the nasal tip, you’d be worried about inflammation, but it isn’t recorded in the surgical record, so it probably wasn’t a supporting structure. It’s probably a method I use, where I separate the bone and septum and used it to spread them.” I didn’t understand well and tried to ask once more, but “Ha, it’s okay!” and he cut me off. (I state that I have a recording and this is not false, to GNG.) And I learned that a tremendous amount of manipulation had been done. I never thought I normally had a dorsal hump, but they shaved down the protruding hump-like area (even though they weren’t placing silicone, why shave this?), and only now did I learn that osteotomy means breaking the bone and realigning it. There was lateral osteotomy; instead of straightening the septum, they removed the deviated part and aligned it; they also osteotomized the inferior turbinate bone to widen it and cauterized it. What they had called putting in a support was septal extension plus a support; on the right side, a spreader graft; at the nasal tip, two layers of septal cartilage were placed. The surgery was done almost at the level of septal reconstruction. I’m at 5 months now. I developed symptoms of empty nose syndrome and am looking into it. I haven’t received a diagnosis yet. You may know this, but there aren’t many places that diagnose empty nose syndrome.. When I asked another hospital, they said it seems like too much outward fracture was done. My nose feels cold and dry every day, and my throat is dry too, so I live with headaches. As for the shape, needless to say, the nasal bridge and nasal tip became bulky and it became a manly nose... The dorsum protrudes like a hump, and the transition to the nasal tip is sunken like a saddle nose, so it’s uneven.. Well, I had heard when they explained non-implant surgery that this could happen.. But the nasal bridge and nasal tip really just became bulky.........
I spent 4 months crying every single day.. I had so many years left to live that I lived because I couldn’t die, suffering through it.. I developed social avoidance, depression, and anxiety disorder, so I’m taking psychiatric medication while looking into revision surgery... I spent every day blaming myself for not looking into it properly and for choosing this hospital..