The Consultation

Today I met with the plastic surgeon for my nose job, paid the deposit, and scheduled the surgery.  After I got home, I secured the financing, so now I'm all set to have the rhinoplasty operation on July 28th.

I am both nervous and excited about the surgery.  I am not nervous about the actual surgery (the going under the knife part), but I am nervous about not being happy with my results.  I wish I spoke up more at my consultation after the doctor told me what I should do.  Luckily, my husband had my back.  While I went in there today with high hopes for a major change, the surgeon immediately said all he needed to do was file down the bump (or "dorsal hump" as he called it).  Phillip interjected and said, "Is that all you want done?  I want you to get what you want," which I appreciated because I was just blindly agreeing with the surgeon, assuming he knew best.  That encouraged me to speak up and tell the surgeon about my dislike of my nostrils and the crooked way my nose leans from a head-on view.

We ended up settling on just shaving down the bump and straightening the nose, but leaving the nostrils.  He also said the tip of the nose would come up just a little bit.  Not like a pig nose, but just so it's not down-turned anymore.  I think I made a good decision there.  I will still look and feel like myself, and it will still be the nose characteristic of my mother's family.  The surgeon said most people won't even notice I had anything done, because the general look of my nose will be the same.

That sounded good at the time, but tonight it led me to wonder why I agreed to pay this much money if you can't even tell I had anything done.  Then I looked up before and after pictures, and I could see what he meant.  When you look at a person, you see their face as a whole, not their nose or any individual feature.  If you didn't know someone got a nose job, you might think that he or she looks different, but not know what has changed.  You only notice the difference if you know to look specifically at their nose, if that makes sense.  But now I am having second thoughts about only removing the bump, and not reducing the size and/or length of my nose.  I'm going to mention it to him when I go back in there to sign the consent forms if I see him, or when I talk to him pre-op if I don't see him this week.  Like I said, I'm just really nervous I'm going to be paying all this money and going through this brutal recovery and I won't be satisfied with the results.

I called work today and told them I need two weeks off because I'm having sinus surgery.  If anyone notices any differences and asks, I'll say I had my deviated septum straightened.  I just think this decision is a personal one, and I do not have to justify it to my work.  Plus, so far the few people I've told have all tried to convince me not to do it.  I really hate that.  People?  Just because you would never do it, doesn't mean I shouldn't.  Which is a good place to leave off for the night, I'll get into what led to this decision and the reasons why I am doing this soon.