Since it was my first nose surgery, I really looked up all kinds of things, but why are there so many rhinoplasty methods? lol For the nasal bridge, there’s silicone, no implant, and custom implants, and for the nasal tip, there’s septal cartilage, ear cartilage, donated costal cartilage, autologous costal cartilage... There were seriously so many options that at first I had a bit of a mental breakdown;;
I felt a bit reluctant about putting in an implant, so from the beginning I was thinking of going implant-free. I was also worried that problems might come up later for no reason, and I wanted it to look as natural as possible.
But I heard that with a bulbous nose, if the nasal tip isn’t properly supported, the result can be vague, so I went in the direction of using autologous costal cartilage to firmly define the tip. Since it was my first surgery, I didn’t want it done half-heartedly, so I wanted to be sure about this lol
I went around to a few clinics, and when you actually get consultations, the vibe is really different lol I think there was quite a big difference between places that just decide the line for you and places that adjust it to the feeling I wanted lol
What I considered important was how much they reflected my opinion, whether a natural line was possible (absolutely no overly high or pointy nasal tip), and whether it harmonized with my whole face. During the consultation with Director Choo Sung-cheol at ㄷㄷㅇ, he kept asking about the image I wanted, and he explained in real detail how bulbous nose correction and hump correction would be done, how much of a nasal bridge height was possible without an implant, and what kind of look the nasal tip would have if made with autologous costal cartilage, so I decided on this place lol
I really liked that he set the direction toward naturally refining it to suit my face, rather than making it look overly raised.
On the day of surgery, it didn’t hurt as much as I expected, and it just felt a bit stuffy. The next day was actually more uncomfortable lol Maybe because autologous costal cartilage was used, the area where the rib cartilage was harvested throbbed subtly more than my nose ㅠ Still, after 2-3 days, it definitely became manageable lol
There was some swelling at first, but after a week the major swelling went down, and around one month the line slowly started to show. Now I’m in my third month, and there is still a little residual swelling, but the shape feels almost settled lol
The point I’m most satisfied with is that it hardly looks artificial, and the nasal tip doesn’t look pointy but drops in a round, natural way? I also like that the bulbous look that made my nose look wide from the front has improved a lot, and the hump was smoothed out, so the side line looks much cleaner.
I think finding a line that suits your face is seriously important, and the key seems to be finding a director who can properly bring that to life lol