I
may be one of the first few people who has the audacity to tell to the world
that- yes, nagpagawa ako ng ilong!
Haha :p I don’t want to sound like bragging or super proud of it, but when I am
being asked, I politely just tell them the truth. I had been longing for this rightful time to come ever since I was quite young, and it finally came. So the
big question was this- when did all this yearning to have a rhinoplasty
start?
Basically,
I had been dreaming to have my nose surgically altered since when I was in my highschool years. My
nose was actually “ok” during the pre-rhino era, it has a bridge (thankfully,
allowing me to wear eyeglasses without them sliding down on my face!), but the
problem lies on my big alae (the lower part of the nose, enclosing the
nostrils) and a not so pointed (or rounded at that) and unrefined tip. It
always looked big in pictures whenever I flash on my million dollar smile.
Honestly, it’s really not that scene stealing, but I was really annoyed by the
fact that my face would have looked much better had my nose been in proper
proportion with my face. But, being on my highschool year (a minor at that)
left all my dreams for my nose hanging and suspended in midair temporarily until I reach the rightful age, time,
courage, and of course, the resources which are all needed to make this dream into
a reality.
I
actually never thought of having a rhinoplasty this soon not until my senior
year in medschool. Maybe all the tortures and rigors of clerkship made me into
realizing that I needed that much needed make over whenever I see my reflection
in the mirror every after a 36 hours duty. I wanted to reward myself after
graduating. And instead of asking for a huge and special present for my
graduation, I, without having second thoughts, asked for this one.
Of
course, one of the perks of being in the medical field is that you get to enjoy
some privileges- like discounts on professional fees. I was referred to a
plastic surgeon by my mentor/friend general surgeon-who happened to be the
first person I confided in about my plans of getting a rhinoplasty. I had my
pre-op consultation a month before my graduation and had everything scheduled
indefinitely after the supposed grad date. However, for the scheduling part, it
didn’t help that the plastic surgeon had to go on a vacation leave for the
whole month of May (I originally planned to have it on the first week of May),
leaving me with no choice but to have the operation scheduled on the day after
my graduation-yeah right, I missed all the fun that I was supposed to enjoy on
the night after the ceremonies- I was even put on NPO (nothing per orem,
meaning you are not allowed to eat and drink anything the midnight before the
operation), and that really sucked, but I have to deal with it, tiis ganda as they say.
So
on the morning of the 29th of April, my rhinoplasty dream became a
reality. The operation went well, lasted for approximately 3 hours. It was
really weird at first, because I am used to seeing patients on their OR gowns
as I lay them gingerly on the OR bed- this time, there had been switching of
roles. I never thought of it at first not until I was lying in there, with my
eyes wide open, looking directly to the overhead OR lights, the sound made by
the pulse oximeter, the smell of cidex, etc. It was pandemonium! Thankfully,
the Midazolam tablet (yes, I swallowed not half, but the whole tablet, haha)
worked its wonders immediately. Everything was only under local anesthesia
(well you basically have a choice to have everything being done while you are
fast asleep, with the help of IV sedating medications, but that would entail
another added cost as you are going to have an anesthesiologist added to the
team, and would cost you around an additional of 15-20,000 pesos. So, yeah, I could
pretty handle myself well.haha)
In
the immediate post-op, as expected, there was a little bit of pain, albeit tolerable. And you have your painkillers with you so that wouldn’t be
much of a big deal. However, it was the breathing part which made everything
worse, due to the fact that I now had narrower nostrils (they did an
alarplasty, google on it) and there were packings and tapes all over my face which
blocked all my chances to normally breathe through my nose. I wasn’t able to
talk properly (as expected), and my lips were drying out because I was left
with only my mouth to breathe. Everything was working perfectly fine then, so I
breathed a sigh of relief and told myself- ‘finally, it’s done’.
Facial
swelling became much worse on the 2nd-4th day, and there were
occasions that when I inadvertently lean forward (a big no no post-rhinoplasty),
there would just be bleeding all over. It was frustrating and alarming at
first, but I got used to it. So I desperately tried to live my life in normalcy
as days went by.
Probably,
the only thing that I failed to fully comprehend before I decided to have
rhinoplasty was the downtime after the surgery. Surely, there had been some minor improvements from the day of the surgery up until today (I’m on my 5th
week post op btw). However, the changes were not that drastic prompting
praises-well, just yet. I naively thought that the effects of a nosejob can be
enjoyed right after, if not, few weeks after the operation. I was wrong. The
literatures/books (and even my surgeon) say that the full effects of a
rhinoplasty won’t be evident until 6 months to a year after surgery, for the
swelling, especially on the tip part (I had tipplasty btw), would resolve for a
longer period of time. In fact today, it still feels hard and looks unrefined,
and I can’t even touch it because it still hurts. And now the bulbous tip ruins everything whenever I smile because it looks odd and unnatural. Perhaps, all surgeries have
their downtime, and cosmetic surgery is not spared on this. I can safely say
that my rhinoplasty journey hasn’t officially ended just yet.
So
for now, I try my very (very) best to remain patient and see if the rhinoplasty
will deliver its promises. Some people who know me personally may be asking why the
heck have I subjected myself to this procedure when my nose was basically ok to
start with. Believe me, I have asked this question a couple of times already,
and I always end up with a quite perplexing yet a reality-based answer. “It was in my bucket list”, I told to
them. “I wanted to fulfill that dream of having a rhino for once in my life. I
don’t want to die with what ifs.” It may really sound cliché-ish and
unconvincing, but I really wanted to look and feel good-for myself, not to
please others. I did not do this to fit in in a society where everything is
judged based on how you look. I was just fulfilling a childhood dream, and I
thank the good Lord that stars have aligned to finally turn this dream into a
reality.
PS: I won’t be posting in here the cost of my rhinoplasty experience (btw, I had an Open Rhinoplasty, with Tipplasty and Alarplasty) But just in case you wanna know, please comment here and I will respond. Hope this blogpost helps those who are planning to have rhinoplasty soon. God bless you on your journey!
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| This was me pre-rhino era. As you can see, the bridge was ok, but my nasal alae were flaring and the tip was unrefined. |
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| Immediate post op. I can't believe I'm posting this. haha |
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| One week post-op |
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This was one month post op-worm's eye view. The nares look amazing when viewed underneath. This was because the tip was elevated via a cartilage graft.
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| This is the front view, one month post-op. It kinda looks unnatural because of the still-bulbuos tip.My upper lip also feels numb and has reduced mobilization. This is quite an expected result up until few months post op. |
