My Rhinoplasty Experience Part 2: Surgery & Recovery

DISCLAIMER!!

This post includes photographs of me post-surgery that some people may not want to see – a little bit of blood, bruising, etc. (honestly, I don’t blame you if you want to click right out of here). I am simply sharing MY rhinoplasty experience – this is not one-size fits all and I am NOT a doctor. I just want to share my experience to help give an idea of what to expect for those who may be considering a rhinoplasty.

Keep scrolling at your own risk! Jk. I promise as far as rhinoplasties go, this is pretty mellow!

Annnd I’m back with Part Two! We’re gonna chat all the ~gory~ details, and there are going to be some not-so-attractive photos of me looking bruised, bandaged, and honestly? A little bloody. I will say this: my experience was virtually pain-free, and my rhinoplasty recovery was quick! However, it was major surgery, so the aftermath wasn’t super pretty right away. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you just bounced out of surgery looking perfect? Lol. I know I gave a disclaimer above, but I’d skip this post if you get freaked out by medical stuff easily. However, if you’re contemplating a nose job definitely keep scrolling so you know what to expect! And I’ll share before and after pics at the end.

Rhinoplasty Surgery

I’m smiling here, but honestly was scared out of my mind.

I went in for my surgery very early in the morning, got hooked up to an IV and was wheeled into the OR pretty quickly! All I really remember was my doctor coming to say hi, drawing a line on my nose, and getting taken into the OR. I seriously felt like I was on Grey’s Anatomy while they were wheeling me in there (this is coming from someone who, thankfully, has very little experience in hospitals or operating rooms). I kinda feel like maybe they should knock you out before showing you the inside of an OR, but what do I know? At least they gave me a heated blanket. My doctor and anesthesiologist chatted with me for a minute, asked me to count down from 10, and I was OUT.

Quick side note! A rhinoplasty is an outpatient surgery, I had my operation done in a hospital in San Francisco, but it doesn’t have to be done at a hospital!

I woke up a bit disoriented and nauseous, but the nurse gave me some meds to help with that. I also remember REALLY having to pee (they’re pumping you full of fluids the whole time!), but I wasn’t allowed to get up and the bedpan option wasn’t really of interest. To my surprise, I didn’t feel any pain. My nose was fine and my throat didn’t hurt at all! They have to put a tube down your throat (*shudder*), so a lot of people report a sore throat. Really I just felt like I had stuffy nose! I honestly was mostly focused on the fact that I was about to pee myself. Thank goodness my mom arrived shortly after I woke up and helped me get dressed and go to the bathroom. I was very high on pain meds and everything, so I could barely stand up by myself.

Thumbs up!! Can you tell I’m superr disoriented?

I think I’m trying to smile here??

Back at Home…

I was only in the hospital for a couple hours post-surgery before they let me go home. My mom drove me home, and I felt pretty good the whole time! When we got home I just hung out on the couch, ate some oatmeal (only soft foods for a while and no straws!!) – eating was a really interesting process since my entire top lip was numb. Later in the day I started to feel really tired, so I slept for a while. If you know me, you know I. DO. NOT. NAP. EVER. So this was a big deal.

I woke up from my nap feeling really gross and nauseous and ended up throwing up… Yep, sorry. Good news is I felt so much better! Throwing up after a rhinoplasty isn’t great because of the pressure it can put on your head, so my mom called my doctor. Everything was fine, he just advised me not to eat or drink anything for a few hours so I didn’t get sick again.

I luckily was able to shower day of surgery – my doctor just told me to keep my face/head out of directly under the water until my cast was off. Also, for a while after a nose job you have to sleep on your back – duh! – which isn’t the most fun if you’re a side/stomach sleeper like me. But I propped myself up on some pillows (helps with swelling, and not swallowing any blood… yuck), and I was good to go!

Week One Post-Op

Two days post-op

Y’all, other than a little nausea and throwing up once on day one, I was completely fine afterwards. NO PAIN. AT ALL. I swear! I didn’t even have take my pain meds! The only thing that really got me was taking the gauze out (I forget if this was one or two days post-op). Basically after surgery, they put gauze in both nostrils to absorb the blood. Having the gauze taken out was the weirdest thing I have ever felt in my life… you really just don’t realize how far up they can put that gauze… But the minute they came out (my mom did it for me!), I felt like a new person. I was able to breathe through my nose again, and didn’t feel stuffy anymore!

Three days post-op

The next few days the bruising got a little more noticeable, but it actually wasn’t too bad. I bruise extremely easily, so I prepared myself for horrible bruising. Luckily, it was nothing black and blue, but just a greenish/yellow situation below my eyes. I also started getting a bunch of zits by my nostrils because obviously you can’t take the tape or ‘cast’ off your nose for a while, and it gets a little gross. Around day three my nose started to itch which was a little annoying. Other than that everything was fine, and by day three or four I was ready to get back to normal life! Target? Sure. Home Goods? Let’s go! Only thing stopping me was I looked a little ridiculous, especially because I couldn’t wash my hair all week. But I felt 100 percent!

Four days-post op (I actually went out in public this day! You can see how tragic my hair was looking since I wasn’t able to wash it)

The only thing that was hard about recovery was the psychological part of it all. A few days after the surgery I was sitting there thinking, “Oh my god. What have I done to my face?! I permanently. altered. my FACE! What if it looks bad? What if I miss my old nose? Did I make a huge mistake?” I was freaking out bad, you guys. I think it’s normal to have a momentary freakout, especially after making such a HUGE change.

Spoiler alert! Everything turned out fine and I don’t regret it at all!!!

Rhinoplasty Post-Op Appointment

One week after surgery, I went to see my doctor again to take out my stitches and get my ‘cast’ off. Getting stitches removed was the most painful part of the whole thing. You know how when you pluck an eyebrow hair or something and your eyes water? It was like that but times a thousand. I was laying in the chair while he took out the stitches with tears falling down my face (I think it was part eyes watering, part pain, and part emotions). Luckily this only lasted a few minutes!

Then he took my cast and tape off and I got to look in the mirror. You guys. This was one of the craziest, happiest moments of my ENTIRE LIFE. All my fears of regret washed away in that moment! It. Looked. So. Good. I felt beautiful. It was beyond my wildest dreams. And the best part? It looked so natural. My mom and I couldn’t stop talking about it on the way home. Of course, it was still swollen (your nose actually stays swollen up to 12 months post-op!), but it was perfect.

My mom snapped this photo as we were leaving my post-op appointment! You can totally tell I’d been crying – I know I don’t look it here, but I really was thrilled! Also, that mark is just from the sharpie my doctor used to mark my nose before surgery.

What Happened Next?

Well, I immediately went home to wash my face and my hair. LOL. Honestly touching/washing my face for months after still terrified me! For a bit, I had a small dip in my nose where the cast rested, but as the swelling went down that dip went away. I also had a little scarring/redness between my nostrils where my stitches were, but those also went away very quickly. My nose was definitely swollen for about a year after.

For a few months after surgery if I bumped my nose it was far more painful than it would have been pre-rhinoplasty (and the only reason this even happened is because I was nannying young kids!). Other than that, things were completely normal! I actually used to get horrible nosebleeds once or twice a year, but I’ve had much less since my nose job. Not sure what the science behind that is, but I’m not complaining!

As for activities, I can’t remember how long it was until I could do physical activity. I think it was only a few weeks as long as it didn’t involve or risk any sort of contact. I was back nannying a few weeks after surgery, visiting a friend at school, etc. Life as normal resumed pretty quickly for me!

As I’ve said, my experience was very smooth and pretty ideal, all things considered! I would do it again in a heartbeat!! I’m really, genuinely, so glad I got a rhinoplasty. I almost forget that it happened, because it feels so natural now.

Rhinoplasty Before & After Photos

Of course, I have somehow lost the ‘official’ before an after photos taken by my doctor… but no need to worry! Here are the same pictures I shared in my first post, alongside some very unofficial photos I just took while sitting on my couch.

Before

After

As you can tell, my nose is straight, there’s no longer a bump in the middle, and the tip of my nose is a lot smaller. And, for lack of a better word, cuter. Some people say they didn’t notice a difference until I pointed it out (I think they’re just being nice!), but I really think this was a DRASTIC change.

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Thank you for reading, I really hope this was helpful! Or at the very least, informative (and not too traumatizing). If you have any questions that didn’t get answered here or in Part One, feel free to DM/email/comment, and I will be sure to answer it in my next post! Part Three with a Q&A and some other concluding thoughts will go up soon.

xx, c