<Recovering on day 1>About 5 years of so much worrying and repeated decisions~ I spent years visiting many hospitals said to be famous~ In the end, last month I had a consultation at ㅁㅌ, decided within two days, and got surgery on the earliest available day in September.
Today is day 3 after surgery, and I came back home after removing the hemostatic cotton that had been placed in my nose! (For reference, I live outside Seoul) This is my 3rd nose surgery.. and this surgery was the most painful, had the most bleeding, and had the least bruising or swelling.
I’m originally the type who swells and bruises easily, you know? Even if I sleep just a little badly I swell, and even if I drink a lot of water before sleeping I have at least slight puffiness floating around. But after surgery, right now I have no bruising at all, and the swelling is almost half compared to my previous surgeries (just a little water-dumpling puffiness in my cheeks and a bit of swelling in the philtrum like I have piercings), so I was kind of newly amazed by myself, wondering if this is what everyone calls the difference in doctors’ technique.
And for the two days with cotton in my nose, it was honestly the worst agony of my life, so I had a headache, no appetite, and couldn’t sleep properly.. Seriously, the whole way to the train I thought more than 10 times, ‘Am I going to collapse like this? And not even get my stitches removed, looking awful?’ On the way home, I was grateful the whole time that I could taste things and that the air coming through my nose was this precious I’m also grateful to myself for enduring it.. I’ll love you now, my body..
Today after removing the cotton, I got comfortable On the train going back home, I slept deeply while breathing through my nose, and now as soon as I got home, I disinfected it myself and applied ointment just as the doctor told me, and I’m catching my breath with a big bowl of coffee.
My nose history >My first surgery was with autologous dermis (I had resistance to implants, so I had my first surgery with autologous dermis about 13? years ago), but I didn’t like the shape (my previously small hooked nose became more emphasized, the septum stretched out long, and of course the bridge absorbed like crazy, leaving barely a trace, ha)
> 6 or 7 years later, the doctor who did my second revision rhinoplasty without implants somehow operated in a way that made my septum, which hadn’t even been deviated, almost deviated. Along with that, one nostril looked pinched due to alar retraction, and from the front the asymmetry from the deviation was so severe that whenever someone tried to take a photo of me, I was always busy avoiding it.
What I wanted, even from the very first surgery, was not a trendy nose or some extremely aesthetic shape, and I had no greed for that (I didn’t even bring celebrity nose photos). I was someone who just wanted it to be a tiny bit better than my original nose. After the second surgery, my nostrils became severely pinched, the septum deviated, and the nose was blunt.. Rather, there were many more parts to correct, but still, my wish was just for it to look even a little bit natural, like it had always been my own nose. I’m saying I had no greed!
Right now I still have the splint on, and my stitches haven’t been removed yet, but even looking roughly, compared to before, the septum is centered incomparably better and the nostril shape also seems well matched in symmetry, so my heart is fluttering a little. Next week I’m going to get the splint removed, and I really hope I meet a pretty nose without any problems.
Personally, what’s interesting is that when I first consulted with the doctor, he actually hit me with the blunt facts, saying, “Only this much is possible! This nose has limits!” So he spoke as if there wouldn’t be a big change, but honestly maybe because he said that, looking only at it now, I feel like he operated beyond my expectations. (Maybe he lowers expectations on purpose?)
And I’m MBTI T (sorry to those who dislike being overly into MBTI) When I saw other people’s consultation reviews, many said he was too cynical, but I actually liked it much more. Because when I get hit with rational blunt facts, I can realistically understand the state of my nose and come to my senses to make a decision! (Money matters too.. and time is precious)
And although the consultation was cynical, once you actually become his patient, he explains things so gently and kindly that he seems like a completely different person. From start to finish, he personally treated everything without handing it off to nurses, and among the doctors I’ve had surgery with so far, many didn’t do things themselves, so that part was also a big surprise.
I was going to write a review about local anesthesia, but someone else wrote an extremely detailed review so it would be good to read that for reference. (It really has everything I felt during surgery written in it Their detailed expressiveness is amazing, thumbs up)
The surgery itself was really just veryveryveryvery+++ harder than sleep sedation where you simply sleep and wake up, but instead there was safety and the ability to communicate requests during surgery and supplement or correct things (I looked in the mirror once or twice midway, and as the doctor recommended, we corrected the nostril side one more time. He also made recommendations during surgery about what would be better.)
And… the most important thing… It made me strongly feel that I never want to have surgery again! It made me think this is my last surgery!^^ Because it was so hard It was agony…. I realized this is not something to do when I get even older. I naturally thought, I’ll just live as I am.
Next week, after seeing the result, if I like it, I’ll check the condition a bit and upload before-and-after photos too! I’ve never written this long anywhere, but today after removing the nasal cotton I got happy, so I’m leaving this to help everyone.. (Just in case, I’m absolutely not a broker I don’t want to get blocked Would a broker write this ramblingly? I just joined communities and only ever lurked, and sometimes timidly left comments when I was curious.)
To everyone looking for a hospital, I hope this becomes your last surgery! And if possible, I recommend just living as you naturally are! If I could go back to the past, I would absolutely never get nose surgery ^_^
*Ah! For reference, I had no implant, and had implant-free surgery using all my own cartilage (septal cartilage & ear cartilage). They didn’t even try costal cartilage; they reused everything that was already inside my existing nose.