Cosmetic Surgery Blog

Finally my rhinoplasty surgery is completed and we’re home!! Uh oh. I am nauseated… You ingest a bit of blood during the procedure and it can make you sick. Which it did. In my flowerbed. In front of my neighbors. Marc said our neighbor was walking with her baby stroller and an accompanying rug rat and I threw up this black-red substance into my Lobelias and Violets!!! For shame!! Marc said the neighbor just kind of started walking faster and was trying not to stare. I wonder if she thought I had been kidnapped or something?

The swelling and pressure is relieved by icing and I strongly recommend it. I was instructed to keep it iced for 48 hours and then thereafter for comfort. The best thing to ice it down with is, get this, a bag of frozen peas. Knowing from experience now, I recommend using frozen raspberries or blueberries, because frozen peas tend to stink after a while and my friend busted her bag ‘o’ peas all over herself and her bed linen! Alternatively, I suggest that you buy both the veggies and the fruits and see which you like better. I mean it’s not like they are expensive, right?  Peas are lighter, however.  I alternated between gel packs, fruits and veggies.  A veritable salad bar.

AWESOME Tip! This was sent to me by a visitor.  I wish I would have known about it. “Make a mixture of 1/3 isopropyl alcohol and 2/3 water (mix a pitcher) and pour this solution into Ziploc sandwich bags with about 1/2 a cup in each bag (you may want to double-bag).  It stays colder longer, stays slushy because of the alcohol and is still very lightweight.”

Breathing & Sutures
The only thing I disliked was breathing through my mouth and feeling ‘stuffed up’. I do not like breathing through my mouth whatsoever (unless I am scuba diving or snorkeling, of course). So, it was probably more psychological than anything. My lips got really chapped and someone told they used Aquaphor® by Eucerin (which by the way works WONDERS) for their chapped lips. I wish I would have known this after the fact.  Big fat *derrr* on my part, I didn’t even think to use chapstick.
The dryness is because of the constant breathing through the mouth, plus scrubbing and cleaning of your skin with the harsh chemicals. It is a necessary evil so just slather your Aquaphor® or favorite lip balm on and deal with it.
The nose surgery stitches were the dissolvable kind but they felt like they took forever to dissolve. I had great big spidery black hair-like things sticking out my nose for a week or two, YUCK! 

Cast Removal
My cast was removed on the 7th day.  WOO HOO!! Look out…the swelling moved down and I could actually feel it throb and move south until the area between my top lip and nose was swollen and felt stiff. It did this for a few hours and I had to be VERY careful not to accidentally hit my nose. I was very protective for many weeks about my nose. Even though it wouldn’t break or anything, it sure felt tender and well, you will feel as though you can mess up your nose. And you can! Sometimes your skin hasn’t completely adhered or something. You just never know so be careful with it. No contact sports. No skydiving, no SCUBA, no anything, no fun whatsoever.

Getting Back To Normal
Some patients will lose their sense of smell, temporarily. I did for a short time, but only regained half of my sense of smell after several months. It took about 9 months to get my full sense of smell back (I have an EXTREMELY keen sense of smell, I have an uncanny ability of being able to differentiate hundreds of smells one after the other. I guess that is my little gift. Your nose may be swollen and for up to a year. Don’t laugh at this next one, but the scar tissue may heal in a way that may cause a whistling sound to be heard when you breathe in and out. Either that or if your tip or nasal structure was made too thin it can cause this as well as difficulty breathing form the nose.