My Entire Rhinoplasty/Septoplasty Recovery – Day by Day

I got a rhinoplasty/septoplasty surgery on Thursday, October 22 and wanted to document my recovery! I show the day-by-day recovery as well as the results after one month.

Why did I get a nose surgery?

To keep it short, I’m 99% sure that I broke my nose at least once when I was younger, and my breathing/nose shape changed from that experience. If you want to learn more about my reasoning behind this surgery, I did a podcast episode talking all about it!!

The below is what my surgery consisted of –

1. Septoplasty or submucous resection
2. Repair of nasal vestibular stenosis
3. Submucous resection inferior turbinate
4. Rhinoplasty

I had a deviated septum on my right side that made it harder for me to breathe through. I couldn’t breathe through my nose when sleeping and it was hard to breathe through my nose while working out. I would also notice during the workday that air was only going through my left nostril (even if I didn’t have a stuffy nose!). Because of this deviation, I would get multiple sinus infections every year. In addition, anytime I would get sick, it always ended with a sinus infection due to mucus buildup in my right nostril/sinus.

I always knew I’d get this surgery done before I turned 26 (wanted to do it while on my mom’s insurance to help with doctor visits and medications), and with COVID/quarantining at home, 2020 seemed like the perfect time to do it! I could get the surgery, and then recover at home without the pressure of going into the office or going out to drink on the weekends.

How to prepare:

1. First, decide that this is something you want to do. It might be helpful to see an ENT doctor if this would be for a functional change. If this is for a cosmetic change, spend a lot of time considering why you want this change and how it can improve your quality of life. It’s important to make sure outside factors aren’t influencing your decision and that it’s something YOU truly want.
2. Second, schedule consultations with doctors. I used the website Realself to do my research. You’re able to search for doctors in your area and you can read real reviews from their patients. I was surprised to see that “celebrity” doctors actually had awful reviews on this website. Definitely research the doctors as much as possible! I recommend seeing a minimum of 2 doctors for consultations, just to have a second opinion and give you something to compare to. In a consultation, they can typically give you an idea of the cost, the surgery process itself, an idea of what your nose could look like, and give you information regarding the recovery.
3. Third, consider the doctor, the surgery, your comfort level, and the financials together to make your decision. If you’re ready to move forward, choose your doctor and let them know! They will guide you from there.

Supplies you might want:

Here are the supplies I used in my “get well soon” basket – AMAZON LIST HERE!

• Vaseline (supposed to help keep skin from drying out/cracking) or Aquaphor (helps restore skin).
• Humidifier (helps keep the air moist, which is important when you’re only breathing through your throat and it gets dry)
• Hydrogen peroxide (used this to dab away the blood at the tip of my nose with a Q-Tip). My doctor also provided this but I ended up using all of it so I was glad I had bought my own!
• Q-tips (used to apply hydrogen peroxide and other ointments).
• Thermometer (can be helpful to check your temperature and make sure you don’t have an infection)
• Travel pillow (had to sleep upright/elevated and this helped me feel so much more comfortable doing so!)
• Icing pads/eyemasks (I really only used the pads because the eyemasks wouldn’t fit over my cast. However they might be nice to use after the cast comes off).
• Nose-guard for eye glasses (you can’t wear glasses for awhile after surgery to avoid getting any indents, so these help hang your glasses from your forehead!).
• Stool softener (let’s just say the pain meds make it difficult to use the bathroom for a few days).
• Facial cleansing wipes or toner (it’s hard to wash your face for a few days so having something easy like these can help keep your skin clean!)
• Tylenol extra-strength (used in the final days after you finish your pain medicine)
• Bruising gel/cream (this supposedly helps with bruising/swelling on the outside)
• Loungewear! You might already have a ton of options, but I wanted to buy a basic pair of black joggers to wear to the surgery center as well a zip hoodie (you don’t want to wear something that you have to pull over your head after surgery!)

Supplies provided by my doctor:

• Pain medicine
• Antibiotic (can prevent skin infections)
• Anti-nausea medicine tablets (if you tend to get nauseas easily).
• Arnica pills (help prevent bruising)
• Nasal moisturizing spray (keeps nose from drying out on the inside)
• Gauze (for your blood to drip on)
• Gauze tape

I wanted to show the day-by-day process of my surgery! In the images/recaps below you’ll see how I progressed each day and week for the first month!

Before surgery –

I wanted to share a few pictures I took of myself/my nose before surgery. You can see there’s a bump when looking at it from the profile view.

Night after surgery (Thursday) –

I took this photo while I was still at the surgery center waiting to be released. You can see there is slight bruising starting underneath my eyes and that my gauze has some blood on it. I still had anesthesia in my system as well as a pain medication, so I wasn’t in any pain this evening! I didn’t sleep very well – only 4 hours in total. I was very amped up on adrenaline and I was excited in general.

Day 1 (Friday) –

The first day started off pretty easy. I didn’t sleep very well the night after surgery so I was pretty tired during the day. I took a nap in the afternoon and when I woke up, I looked like the second photo. My bruising got a lot darker and the swelling started in my cheeks. My left eye also started swelling in the upper eyelid which made it hard to open my eye fully. I got a little freaked out and started icing like crazy! The nose bleeding was slow and consistent today – I changed the gauze about 4 times.

Day 2 (Saturday) –

On Friday night I got about 5 hours of sleep in total- a small improvement! My bruising looked pretty similar to the night before – dark. I spent the day on the couch watching Netflix and icing my eyes/cheeks. My swelling continued to get worse throughout the day and I was shocked at how round my face looked. In addition, my bottom lip has a swollen spot that became a lot more noticeable on this day. This was caused by the breathing tube that they used during surgery. Since my surgery was long, the breathing tube was putting pressure on my bottom lip for several hours which caused my lip to swell. The nose bleeding slowed down today and I only changed my gauze 3 times- but each time the gauze was pretty clean/dry.

Day 3 (Sunday) –

On Saturday night I actually slept a lot – almost 7 hours! I had also been icing my eyes nonstop and I feel like it’s starting to show on my eyes. The bruising is a little lighter and smaller than it was. The swelling in my face continues to get bigger though. I was able to go until 1pm without needing pain medicine, which was a major improvement! The blood has almost completely stopped, so my surgeon said I can stop using the gauze and just leave my nose tip exposed if I want to. I think I’ll stop using the gauze tomorrow! I’m a little nervous to leave the stitches exposed for some reason, but also excited to stop using the gauze tape – I’ve noticed my skin is feeling weird/dry in the areas where I’ve had the tape.

Day 4 (Monday)

I slept for 9 hours last night which is the most I’ve slept since surgery! I woke up feeling refreshed and energized. My face is still very swollen today – I notice it most in my cheeks and the tip of my nose. I spent most of the day icing my face. I’ve heard that 72 hours after surgery, the icing doesn’t make a big difference. But I still did it anyway because it feels good! I also went without my gauze for the first time all day. I didn’t have any blood or drainage so it was exciting progress! The pain isn’t noticeable and I went all day without taking any pain medication. They say days 3+4 are usually the worst of it, so I’m excited to finally be getting over the hump!

Day 5 (Tuesday)

Each day keeps getting a little better! The thing I noticed most today is how yellow my face is. The bruising is causing the area under my eyes + my cheeks to turn yellow. It’s not the most attractive look, but I know it’s a sign of healing! I didn’t take any pain meds today and didn’t wear my gauze again. I was pretty tired today and took a long nap in the afternoon. Outside of that, my energy and appetite seems pretty normal.

I did get a little nervous after an incident I had in the evening. I was wearing my glasses to watch the Bachelorette, and I put them on top of my head during a commercial break (trying not to wear them as much as possible!). I accidentally looked down, which caused my glasses to fall onto my nose/the cast. It hurt SO BAD. I freaked out and I didn’t sleep very well because I kept having nightmares that I broke my nose haha.

Day 6 (Wednesday)

I woke up exhausted because I couldn’t sleep after my glasses situation from last night. I was glad to see that there wasn’t any swelling or bleeding this morning, so it must not have caused much damage. I e-mailed my surgeon to let him know, and he said a small bump like that shouldn’t have caused damage. So I’m relieved and have my peace of mind back!

My bruising and yellow situation looks the same as it did yesterday. I think it’s going to take time for all of this to clear up. I am excited today since it’s my last full day wearing the cast/stitches/packing! I’m supposed to be getting everything removed tomorrow, yay!!

Day 7 (Thursday)

Today was cast removal day!!! I woke up in the BEST mood. I was able to shower finally and Dr. Bassiri’s office instructed me to get the cast wet. It felt amazing to have clean hair again!

I went to their office and was SO nervous about the removal of the packing and the stitches. I’ve heard these steps can hurt, so I was bracing for the worst. The internal packing honestly didn’t hurt as bad as I had prepped for. It wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t painful. I didn’t look, but I could feel a lot of mucus/blood drainage coming out with the packing. Not cute!! Luckily Jake wasn’t in the room to see it haha. The removal of the stitches was the worst part, in my opinion. It hurt SO bad on the front stitches, I cried haha. I also have 0 pain tolerance so that doesn’t help. Once all of the packing was removed, I was able to breathe SO well. I was shocked at how much air I was able to breathe in through both nostrils. I’ve never felt that before!

Once the packing/stitches were removed I was SO excited because it was finally time to reveal the new nose! Dr. Bassiri removed my cast and then I looked in the mirror and was SO happy!!! Even though my nose is currently swollen/big, I’m already in love with it. The bump is gone and it fits my face SO well. I still look like myself too because the nose is so natural-looking. I couldn’t have imagined anything better.

Dr. Bassiri gave me some instructions on what to do for the next two weeks before our followup appointment and sent me on my way! I’m so happy with my new nose and can’t wait to watch it over the next few weeks as the swelling goes down!

Week 3 Update

3 weeks after surgery! I didn’t do a Week 2 update since not much had changed besides my bruising disappeared (YAY!). I did notice that a few days after cast removal, my skin started to break out. I had a lot of small pimples/texture on my nose and between my eyebrows where the cast was. I also had a few larger pimples on my forehead, cheeks, and chin. Apparently if the face experiences trauma (and this surgery qualifies as trauma), it can cause the skin to break out. I’m also very acne prone and wasn’t able to get a facial before surgery (COVID restrictions), so that didn’t help. My doctor said the nose might be more oily than normal for a few months as it heals. I usually have pretty oily skin so I haven’t noticed a big difference in regards to that.

I saw Dr. Bassiri for a quick follow-up appointment at the 3 week mark to make sure things were healing correctly. During my appointment, he removed a dissolvable stitch that was sticking out of one of my nostrils, and he also trimmed a permanent stitch that was showing. He also told me to start massaging the right side of my nose, since it seems like my cartilage is wanting to lean to the right (the direction it was leaning before surgery). Overall we were both excited about my healing/progress and I’m still SO happy with me nose!!

Week 4 Update

This is my final update for the blog post! I don’t really have any new updates here since not much has changed. I will be seeing my doctor roughly every 3 months until we hit the one year mark to ensure things are healing properly.

I also can’t believe it’s already been a month since I had my surgery! I think my nose looks SO GOOD, and it’s only been four weeks. I smile every time I see it in the mirror. It makes me so excited to see what it looks like at the 1-year mark!

Final Thoughts

I’m absolutely OBSESSED with my new nose. I have zero regrets and am so happy I finally pulled the trigger on it. I’ve wanted this for as long as I can remember and I feel like my life has been changed. My nose was my only insecurity, and now I love it. That in itself is life-changing. I already feel so much more confident and I’ve noticed I carry myself differently. I used to slump/hunch over and let my hair hide my face from the side. Now, I stand straight and am not afraid to wear my hair in ponytails. Several people have commented on how happy I look too! I feel like I can be myself now that my nose/face matches my personality. It probably sounds silly, but if you’ve been in my shoes, then I know you understand what I mean.

If you’re someone who has been considering this surgery for either functional or cosmetic reasons, I HIGHLY recommend it! Only do it if you’re 100% ready and comfortable, but it can make a HUGE difference on your quality of life.

Information about my Doctor

If you’re in NYC, I highly recommend Dr. Michael Bassiri-Tehrani. He is very personable and I felt like he really cared about improving my breathing/appearance. I found he was easy to talk to and I wasn’t afraid to ask him any “stupid” questions. I found him on the website Realself and noticed immediately that he had great reviews from his patients, whereas other doctors in the area didn’t. After my first virtual consultation with him, I felt very confident and I felt even more confident about my decision after the first in-person consultation. You can find out more about his services, experience, and his contact information on his website.

If you’ve read this far, thank you so much!! I hope this blog post helps you with your decision or any questions you may have had. If you have any questions about my experience or want to talk to someone about it without being judged, my DM’s on Instagram are always open! I also have a lengthy vlog on YouTube that covers my entire healing process in more detail.