Update on my rhinoplasty, 3 years later

I hadn’t planned to do any more posts about my nose, but I’ve gotten a couple of messages asking about it lately, wondering how the nose job is holding up.

And since I like to do posts that cover what you guys want to know about, well, here we are.

Wait, you got a nose job?

Kind of.

If you’re new here, you probably need a little back story!

In late 2016, I got a functional rhinoplasty, done by a plastic surgeon/ENT.

But I got a referral to him from a regular ENT, and I’d initially gone to see the ENT because I realized that I was getting almost no air through one of my nostrils.

The ENT thought a dual specialty plastic surgeon/ENT could best serve my breathing needs while also making sure my nose didn’t turn into a visual disaster.

And that is how the Frugal Girl ended up in a fancy plastic surgery office.

Insurance covered the whole thing because of it being a functional rhinoplasty, so it cost me very little out of pocket, mercifully.

Here’s a whole pre-surgery post about the details of me deciding to have the surgery. Photos of my crooked nose included!

More bent-nose photos here.

I liked my nose. It just wasn’t working.

My nose had gotten broken in a car accident long ago, and even though it was kind of crooked, I liked my former nose, and I didn’t want to change my looks.

I just wanted to breathe!

But it’s hard to make a nose work properly without also changing the look of it.

How are the results, 3 years in?

My nose is still working great!

My breathing is so much better than it was before.

I used to always have to breathe through my mouth, and now I can keep my mouth shut and still get enough air in. 

So great!

At this point, I’ve mostly gotten used to the way my new nose looks.

It was really hard at first; I underestimated how disconcerting it is to have something change on your face and I felt sad about it for a while.

Plus, at first the new nose is awfully swollen and stiff, so you don’t really have a good idea of the final look for quite some time.

(Here’s how my nose looked after I got the splints out. Not gross; it’s all cleaned up.)

My nose basically felt like it was made of bone for a good six months or so, especially at the tip.

I’d say that now, the tip is about 80% as flexible as a normal nose, and my nostrils feel completely normal.

I do still feel like my nose is a little bit more sensitive than it used to be; if it gets bumped hard, I experience more pain than I would have before.

But it’s not like I get punched in the nose on the regular, so this is not a huge deal.

What does your nose look like now?

First, here’s a photo from the day before my surgery.

And here’s what my nose looks like now.

And here’s a non-smiling view, because smiling does move my nose a lot.

Do you think the surgery was worth it?

Definitely.

The recovery wasn’t really fun, but it was most certainly not the worst thing I’ve been through.

(Tonsil removal, I’m looking at you!)

And the long-term benefits from the surgery have been totally worth the short-term pain and adjustment.

This post has a link to pictures of me with a puffy face and a nasal cast, in case you are curious about what that looks like.

And this post gives a pretty thorough run-down of the the recovery was like along with lots of photos of my nose (I wrote it 5.5 months after the surgery.)

Can you get your nose pierced again after this surgery?

I used to have nose ring, which had to be taken out for surgery (my nostrils got quite rearranged during surgery.)

My nose surgeon did not recommend me ever getting any nose jewelry in the future because of the possibility of it messing up my cartilage grafts.

I trust him to know what’s what, so my post-surgery nose will remain unadorned.

Breathing is what is most important!

Any advice for someone considering the surgery?

Consider a plastic surgeon

I am really, really grateful that my ENT sent me to an ENT/plastic surgeon, and I’d definitely suggest that you ask about this option.

If your surgery is pretty simple (just fixing a septum), then I could see an ENT being fine. But my surgery involved bone-breaking plus reshaping of my nostrils, using cartilage grafts. 

Obviously, that changes the look of the nose, and it’s nice to be in the hands of someone who works on making good-looking noses. 

Try breathing strips to see what proper breathing is like

I did not even realize how poor my breathing was until I tried using breathing strips at night.

They’re just adhesive strips that you apply to the outside of your nose, and for me, they mimicked what would happen if my nose bones were straight enough to allow air to get through.

Once I tried the strips, I made an appointment with the ENT right away because I wanted to breathe like that every night!

In summation:

My experience with functional rhinoplasty has been very good, and the upsides far outweigh the downsides.

I give it a big thumbs up, and if you are having breathing issues like me, I’d definitely recommend getting in to see an ENT. 

I wish I’d gone to get my nose looked at much earlier because I spent 18 years with poor breathing and I did not need to do that!

Any other nose questions?

Drop them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.