My Rhinoplasty with Mr. Butler

Since about 13 (ten years ago), I have hated my nose. It wasn’t too bad from the front but from the side it was big and had a hump. I remember being on a school trip and on the coach a boy noticed it and started saying "look at her from the side". I laughed it off but I was really embarrassed and upset. My nose was like my dad’s. He also had the dreaded hump, although his is worse than mine (aaaah poor old dad!)

Before Photos

Last February (2003) I split up with my boyfriend (or rather he split up with me) after 4 years together. He had always been completely and illogically opposed to cosmetic surgery and wouldn’t even discuss it. He even threatened to break up with me if I had it! 

After finding a new (and much better) loving relationship and feeling pretty good about things, I decided to start ringing around for consultations.

I saw a few different people and eventually made my decision, Mr Butler from LPSA (London Plastic Surgery Associates) in London.

I had a lot of help and advice from everyone in the rhinoplasty forum at www.cosmeticsupport.com which I found really helpful in making my decisions and preparing for surgery.!

So on 4th August 2004 I went to the Princess Grace Hospital in London feeling excited and nervous. I felt confident that Mr Butler had given me the time in the two consultations that I had had with him to fully understand what I wanted and to tell me what he could realistically achieve. So I did feel relatively confident, but I was still worried in case I did not like the end result.

I was also worried about the general anaesthetic as I had not had one before. The anaesthetist came and talked to me and then Mr Butler came in before I went to theatre and just went over what I wanted and what he was going to do.

I had the surgery in the afternoon and woke up feeling ok. I then started to feel sick and was sick quite a lot. It was mostly blood that came up which worried me. The nurse said this was ok and it was just because the blood had nowhere to go, so it had gone down into my stomach. It sounds worse than it was and I soon felt much better.

Post Op Photos

 

The worse bit was the next morning. The nurse came in and took out the cotton plugs that were up my nostrils. A bit like tampons up my nose. She wet them a bit first, so that they would come away easier and then as she pulled them out all blood poured out… yuck! It felt like a bad nosebleed and was really unpleasant but not painful and it did only lasted a minute or two.

I had no pain at all, it was just uncomfortable having all the blood clogging up my nose and not being able to do anything about it. I had a lot less swelling and bruising than I was expecting, no big black eyes just a bit yellow below my eyes and a bit puffy for the first day or two.

After a week I had my splint off my nose, which I was a bit nervous about. Mr Butler had said it would still be swollen and lumpy but not to worry as that would all go down. I hoped it would look ok.

The nurse took the cast off. She said she has never had one come off so easily, so it didn’t take long. She cleaned up my face to get all the pen marks and plaster remnants off my face and all the time I was just dying to look in the mirror, but I was patient.

I then spent the rest of the day looking in the mirror, using two mirrors so I could see the profile, looking from above, below, and any other way possible!

I am really pleased. The bridge was still swollen to start with and I am sure the rest of the nose is too to some extent but I can see my profile is really great and that is the bit I wanted to have changed.

The hump is gone and the general size is reduced really well. It feels much more me than my old nose ever did. It has a nice feminine curve in it, but not too much, which is good, as I was worried about having a ski slope nose.

These photos are only 10days post op so if it changes much I will post some more photos.

A final comparison...

Before Surgery                                                                After Surgery

Thanks for looking at my journal and if you want to give me feedback post a message to carol on the rhinoplasty forum of www.cosmeticsupport.com

Thank you to everyone who has supported me through this whole process and now, like everyone else who is happy post-op, I am saying …. WHY DID I EVER WAIT SO LONG TO DO IT?