Frequently Asked Questions

Many of the comments that are left to me are often time the same questions. They are good ones, but sometimes it takes me a long time to respond as I am a full-time student and I can’t find the time to answer them in depth. So this post is to answer your FAQ’s in as much depth as I can answer.

Q: Who was your plastic surgeon?

A: Her name is Susan Lee Chobanian and she is located in the LA area. She’s the best in the business if you ask me!

Q: My nostrils don’t look even after the bandages came off. Is it to due uneven swelling?   Will it go away?

A: Yes. I believe there are two factors in this; 1, your nostrils were uneven to begin with but you never noticed because your nostril were not exposed prior to your nose job and 2, you likely have uneven swelling that exaggerates your uneven nostrils. We are not born with perfectly symmetrical faces. That includes our nostrils. Go back and look at old pictures of your nose and study the way your nostrils appeared. You will likely find that they were indeed uneven. The swelling just makes it obvious. I had a young girl point out that my nostrils were uneven early in my recovery when I was swollen. When my swelling went down and months passed, they looked more even and no one noticed any unevenness. If months pass and they still look very asymmetrical and you are unhappy, consult your PS and explore your other options.

Q: I just had my bandages removed and I look like a piggy! Will this go away?

A: From what I’ve seen, yes. Most people’s noses tend to turn up and swell in the beginning and then eventually un-swell and settle and look normal again. I didn’t have this experience. I had a droopy nose during swelling that eventually turned up over time. This is the way that my PS and I discussed my nose being, thus the nose she sculpted was designed to perk up. If yours wasn’t designed that way, then it should go down. If your PS messed up, I would see them again to find out what went wrong. Although if I had a PS who messed up, I’d pinch my pennies and find a skilled one to correct it.

Q: I had my nose done in the last month and I want to go to the beach. Is it okay?

A: Well, you won’t die if you go. I wouldn’t spend excess time under the sun after a nose job. I was told no sun for 6 months. If it is absolutely mandatory that you go, put lots of sunscreen on your face and nose and get a hat with a wide brim to completely provide shade for your face. Take a beach umbrella if you can and stay in the shade.

Q: When will the swelling go away?

A: It depends on how invasive your surgery was. If you’ve had your bridge and tip done and you had quite a bit of reshaping, at least one year. You’ll see lots of swelling disappear by 6 months, though. The rest of the time, you’ll see your nose just refine and change slightly. If you’ve not had much done, maybe 6-8 months. Everyone is different, though.

Q: Did you have a closed or open rhinoplasty?

A: I had a closed rhinoplasty. I didn’t need an open one so she decided that this would be the best way to do it. Also she prefers closed rhinoplasty’s so that is her particular style. This may not be true of some plastic surgeons.

Q: I hit my nose. Did I ruin my nose?

A: Probably not. If you grazed or tapped it, I’m pretty certain that you are fine. If you ran full speed into a wall, there’s a good chance you did ruin it. We all accidentally hit/tap/graze our noses when it’s in the cast so don’t worry too much. It’s really hard to ruin a nose job while it’s still in the cast so don’t worry too much. I would keep my nose away from children and babies, fyi. Be careful for the first few months and don’t put yourself in situations where you might hurt your nose. Hitting it in your sleep or accidentally grazing it won’t damage it.

That’s all that I can think of right now. I’ll add more if I remember anything else.

2 Year Post Op Update

Well I am nearly at two years post op now, it’ll be two years in April. Time flies! 

I still have sensitivity along the right side of my bridge where there is spacing. The tip of my nose is still stiff, but not as stiff as it used to be. I can burry my face into my pillow again, I just have to be more careful than before. It swells a tad bit when I have a cold and it swells under the sun/heat. It looks its best on cold days and the tip turns up more when it is cold.

Last week I saw my surgeon as she had told me that I can come back and see her any time if the little hump bothers me. I decided waiting until nearly two years was good because I thought it would be enough time to let it heal and see if it resolves on its own. And since it hadn’t and was still bothering me, mostly because I am obsessive, I went to see her. She said that I could have a revision and she could take a couple of millimeters off and make it the way I want and it would be no problem. I mentioned to her that I was so swollen during recovery and I was slightly worried about the emotional roller coaster part of it, and she said it wouldn’t be nearly as invasive or bad as the initial rhinoplasty. I asked about the sensitivity and she said she would be able to take care of that, too. I think I’m actually more worried about the sensitivity than the aesthetics of a revision. Which is funny since the aesthetics is what bothers me more. My visit with her was very pleasant and I truly think that she’s among the best of her profession. 

To clarify to anyone, though who may confuse how I feel, my nose after rhinoplasty is quite amazing and way much better than what I was given by God. I am actually very happy with it, but if you’ve read my blog at all, you’ll notice that I have personally felt like the bridge was a tad bit too high and that I felt like there was a slight hump. At the time of my consultation, I did want a curved nose, but I was afraid that the change would be so great and that I would maybe regret having a sloped nose or that I might not look good with it. I do wish that I would have gone a tad bit more sloped, but luckily it’s not too late to have it. I do feel badly about taking up my doctors time, though when maybe I could have avoided doing so. Either way, I am pretty happy that my surgeon is so wonderful both as an artist and as a person. I am not planning on a revision for maybe another year or so, but if and when it happens, I will share it with you all here. 

Also, I am planning on making a FAQ page/post with the questions I am asked the most frequently so that I can help people with the answers right away and so that they will be easily accessed as opposed to having to look through comments on different posts.

By the way…

In my stats, it shows that I’ve had almost 28,000 hits since I started my blog in April 2011 and I am absolutely blown away by that number. When I created this blog, I thought fewer people would look at it, but I am floored that so many of you guys have read my blog/looked at my pictures. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for visiting my page and being a part of my journey. I am glad that I can help other people and answer your questions. Thank you all!

1 year 4 months

Hi all! So I think my nose is pretty well healed by this point. I don’t feel quite so protective about it anymore like I used to which means it feels almost like a normal nose. I miss the way the tip of my nose felt prior to surgery. It used to be squishy and I could bury my face into my pillow and it didn’t hurt. I can’t do that anymore as my tip is now hard after having my cartilage reshaped. But hey, that’s the price we pay for beauty. I have quite a bit of sensitivity still along the right side of my bridge. At this point, I don’t know know if, and don’t think, it will ever go away. The weather has been ridiculously hot and I can feel that my nose gets swollen from it. I remember last winter how amazing my nose was looking from the cold weather, so I am looking VERY forward to cold weather and hope it this heat wave goes away soon. The inside of my nose is usually dry. I think it’ll be a while before another update. Probably not until fall or winter and the weather begins to affect healing again. I will still be checking for comments and whatnot, though. I’ll try to answer your questions faster! I have been out of town a lot lately and it’s been hard getting on my laptop and I don’t like answering from my phone. I generally feel rushed from my phone and I like to answer questions thoroughly so I am sorry for my procrastinating ways!

Some Before and Afters

I hope that this is helpful to those of you who are swollen and are wondering how much can go down. It depends on how your doctor shaped your nose and how swollen you have gotten after surgery.

This particular one makes me so happy that that I had my rhinoplasty done!

The left one is maybe one month into recovery and the one on the right is one year after recovery.

1 Year, 3 Months

I am so sorry it has taken me sooo long to respond to you guys! And that it has been so long since I’ve updated here! I promise to do a full on, more detailed update in a week or two at most. I have to upload the pictures I’ve taken to post on my blog from my phone, so here are some taken over the last month or two!

 

You can see that hump I keep complaining about here. I feel like it comes and goes depending on how warm it is outside. I’ve also noticed it becomes more noticeable after I’ve been at the beach.

 

And that’s it for now.

 

Six Weeks After Cortisone Shot

I am at just about six weeks after my shot. I don’t see a whole lot of change, but others say they have seen some. I’m not really convinced anything changed. My cartilage still sticks out the same as before and I can still push it down. It just comes back up after a little bit of time. I am going back in about a week for another post op visit. My PS said she might give me another cortisone shot, so lets see how it goes. I’ll do best my update and not procrastinate so much! I am just so overwhelmed with school and also lost both of my grandmothers since my last post 😦 so my life has been uneventful and crazy lately. Here are some pictures taken over the last month. Do you guys think my nose looks any different than my last post?

A view from below.

Side-ish

More side profile.

Other side.

Probably my favorite angle of my nose.

Front-on taken on March 3, 2012.

Left is more concave!

This is how my nose looks when I'm not trying to take a picture of my nose. And yes, that is Steven Tyler. ❤

And here are two taken fro the right angle just because I think all of my other pictures are from the left.

And I have created a habit of taking pictures of my left side since it is my new favorite side (my right was my better side before surgery) so I think these are the only two pictures I've taken of my right side so I wanted to post these, too.

Cortisone “steroid” Shot Experience

In five days, it will have been ten months since my surgery. As I’ve been saying all along, I feel like my nose has been too swollen, and I still think it is! I went to see my doc this past Friday for a post op visit and to receive a steroid shot to help relieve some of the swelling. I did research on it and read that some ps’s will administer a shot right after cast removal and read that it only provides temporary relief and that eventually it will come back because the nose is still healing. The patient will become upset and will want another one because you can’t go from no swell to swell without it upsetting you. So the patient will probably have a several more while healing, and this can cause skin thinning and can also cause atrophy. I read on http://www.realself.com under the questions that other surgeons will answer that the best time for a steroid shot is after seven months and generally before one year. Most of the swelling (70%) takes place during the first few weeks (not for everyone, though including myself) and towards the end, about the last 30% will go down. Anyhow, the steroid shot is there to help people with swelling issues get the last of the swelling to go away. It takes a few weeks to see results, but I already see some differences than before. I go back in six weeks and she said I might need one more shot.

So the shot wasn’t too pleasant, but what shot is? The shot didn’t hurt much, so don’t worry.  She bent the needle at an angle so that it wouldn’t hit the bone. My curious boyfriend asked why it was bent, so that’s why I know. I wouldn’t have asked, so I’m glad he did because now I can write about why lol. Anyhow, she injected it slowly. She said I would be swollen and I was. My boyfriend said blood gushed out from where the injection site was, so I guess that’s normal. I could feel a little ball where it was injected and that lasted for about a day. It made my nose smooth and swollen at the bridge. It looked better today (Tuesday) but I did notice my right side is still more swollen than the left. Either way, though it doesn’t bother me much even if stays this way, although I am sure it isn’t because my right side is still tender and has been since surgery. I know it’s just taking longer to heal. My nose is currently a little bruised but fading and it hurt to scrunch my nose or wiggle it. It’s less now, but still a little sore. Pictures!

This was taken about twenty minutes after the shot was taken. You can see the little red spot from the needle and that my nose turned red.

You can see the bruising.

The day after.

You can see the shadow of the swelling on my right side here.

Right side swelling.

Uneven swelling here, too. But I don't think it looks too bad. Not very noticeable unless you are told about it.

 

 

 

Real Self

Real Self is the website I mentioned in my other post but I somehow failed to link it, so here it is!

8 Months Post Op

Well it’s really more like 9, but I’m going to save month 9 for a better update after I get a corticosteroid shot to help with relieving swelling. Some new things I have experienced are that having a cold/flu is TERRIBLE for your new nose, the cold weather is AMAZING for your new nose, and that your nose keeps getting better and better. I had a cold for the first time since surgery back in April and I could not believe how swollen my nose got from being sick. It made my bridge really smooth and round, which is nothing like how it is when I am not sick. It is not fun and I got scared and called my doctors office to ask the nurse if this was normal and she said it is totally normal and that my nose will go back to normal, and she was right. But it was still scary looking at a nose that looked like it did when I was 3 months post op. So if you get sick and your nose looks fat and swollen, fear not! It will go back to normal. Just ice your nose and be patient. The cold winter weather, well, as cold as winter can be in Southern California anyway, has made my nose look really nice and skinny! I am enjoying being outside for that very reason. 🙂 Here are a few pictures over the last month or so.

Last month before I went to a wedding.

I think the tip is still a bit fat, but I don't think it'll get much thinner since I didn't have too much work done on the tip.

It looks a bit thinner here. It was cold outside that day.

And the rest of these were taken on December 9th. And this is at Disneyland so don’t mind my mouse ears. 🙂

You can see more definition after 8 months. I think my nose looks thinner. It was very cold outside the entire day so I think it really helped it shrink that day.

Thinner bridge, I think.

And one from the side. This was early on during the day and I actually don't think my nose looks particularly defined here, but still looks good.

I don’t know if maybe my nose looks different just because someone else took the picture and the quality is better. The majority of my pictures are taken on my laptop, so I don’t know if it quality just made it look different, but I really think cold weather plays a major role. The first two were taken before it was particularly cold, so I think it has to do with that. That’s probably why patients are not supposed to be in the sun for at least 6 months and should always wear sunscreen. A lot of things affect recovery and if you are skipping out on them, you should reconsider your actions because my pictures are proof of that. And I DID follow the rules. See how much it changed even when following them? I am pleased thus far. I will update after my next appointment. I hate needles so wish me luck!

6 Month Post Op Doctors Visit

Just a quick update about my six month post op appointment! Everything is good, but my swelling is a little excessive so I’m probably going to get a steroid shot to help the bridge swelling subside. I’ll be going back after the first of the year. That’s all for now. I’ll update again month by month with pictures just to compare. 🙂