My thoughts after rhinoplasty with hump osteotomy

It’s already been over 6 months since my rhinoplasty, so I’m going to ramble a bit about my personal impressions. I’m male, and this was my first cosmetic surgery. My only experience with places like plastic surgery clinics or dermatology clinics was going to a dermatologist after the military because I struggled with acne-prone skin, and I think rhinoplasty was the first time I ever really went around consulting at clinics. People usually say they look at reviews and use them as reference when choosing a hospital, but for me to look at them like that... honestly, they all just looked similar to my eyes. And maybe because it wasn’t my own nose, it didn’t really hit home either. At most, I could barely tell that one place did a more dramatic style and another did a more natural style? But for the places that do it naturally, by my standards there didn’t seem to be much difference from before surgery, and the risk of having open surgery felt too big, so if I was going to do it, I wanted it to clearly change from my old nose. That said, I didn’t want a flashy nose either... When I first saw that clinic, it felt flashy, so I didn’t go there for consultation, but the hospitals I went to as my first choices were all not great lol. I figured there must be a reason so many people look for popular places, so I grouped some second-choice hospitals together and went for consultations. I remember clearly that even when I was doing consultations around early summer, it wasn’t exactly easy to book a consultation there. But sometimes cancellation slots? or whatever you call them would open up, and then I could get in earlier than the original schedule, so I called as often as possible and grabbed one. Looking back now, I think being that diligent helped me get surgery sooner too. My nose had a pretty severe hump, I had some nasal bridge height, and the tip was low. So whether from the front or side, my nose looked really long lol. My nickname in the military was Squidward too. My first impression of the director was that he was quieter and calmer than I expected? Of course there’s no need to be loud lol, but I liked that he explained rhinoplasty without exaggerating. And more than anything, at another hospital they said I needed to touch my facial contouring, not just my nose, which really ruined my mood, but here they didn’t recommend other surgeries. I felt like if I asked about my nose, they answered mainly about rhinoplasty, and only mentioned other things if my eyes looked different because of my nose or if it didn’t suit my facial features. It was comfortable because they didn’t recommend unnecessary procedures. Actually, out of the 6 places I consulted at, only 3 said I needed osteotomy, and this clinic was one of them. Since I had to go back to work right after only removing the splint after surgery, that was the biggest obstacle. So I debated it... but when I looked around, there were also many people who regretted having surgery without osteotomy, so that one thing was the only thing bothering me, and I ended up getting surgery there. In the end, I think it was good that I did the osteotomy. However, there is quite a bit of nasal bridge swelling + bruising. I mean, they fractured a bone that was sitting there fine, so how could it be completely normal? My under-eye bruising was the worst, and I didn’t feel like the swelling was severe, but when I opened my mouth wide to speak or made facial expressions and it felt awkward, I think it did have some effect. The silicone implant was 3 mm, so it wasn’t placed extremely high, and autologous costal cartilage was used for the nasal tip. Even when I went to dermatology clinics before, I kept hearing that my skin was thick, and every time I went for rhinoplasty consultations, I definitely heard about my thick skin once or twice. I didn’t want to use a weaker material for no reason and then have open surgery again, so I decided to get it done in one surgery. Well... there were also a lot of autologous costal cartilage reviews there, and they said they provide an abdominal binder, so I think that made me trust them more. The pain from autologous costal cartilage feels like muscle soreness the day after doing ab workouts, and sneezing is hard. But I think it wasn’t as hard for me as it is for others because all my nerves were focused on my nose... I usually worked out a lot, so I was fairly used to this kind of tight, pulling pain. As for my nose, my satisfaction is currently insane. People around me naturally ask if I had rhinoplasty because of course it changed from my old nose, and every time I just say yeah and admit it right away. I can see it changed too lol. Still, it has settled a lot compared with the beginning, and I used to feel a firm pulling sensation when moving the philtrum area right under the nose? but now that has mostly gone away. Honestly, in daily life I barely pay attention to it anymore... Since my satisfaction after doing my nose is high, my confidence in my appearance has gone up, and I’ve naturally become interested in other things too, but for now I’m planning to live satisfied with just my nose. It’s almost been a year since my nose too lol. I don’t want to look like a plastic-surgery guy, so for now I’m planning to hold back.