Why did my nose cost me $ 60,000
Hey everyone,
One of my goals for my blog is to open up and talk to you guys about my experience with plastic surgery. My rhinoplasty (nose job) journey has been long to say the least. I hope that sharing my experience can help you decide if it’s something you’re interested in or if it’s not for you.
I am a person who strives for personal physical perfection; I know that isn’t for everyone and I respect that, just as I would hope you would respect me and my choices. However, it’s my mission to be confident in my path and to help others become their best self.
I can remember from the time I was a young girl my sweetest mother told me, “when you were born, you were so petite and all your features, but you had this potato nose” bless her heart. She really didn’t mean to hurt my feelings or cause any harm.. But it was said.
So I remember myself at age seventeen talking to my mom about wanting to get my nose done. It has been something that I had considered since she brought it up when I was young. (Not to blame her, she has no idea lol)
HERE ARE FEW PHOTOS OF ME BEFORE MY FIRST NOSE SURGERY
One of the things that I have learned through my experience is that getting a nose done right the first time is like winning the lottery. That might shock you because of the way society makes it look on social media. It’s either a person gets their nose done and they live happily ever after, or you hear about celebrity getting their nose botched and the media jumps all over them. That was not my experience, mine was much longer, more complex, and very expensive.
I have gotten my nose done eight times by four different surgeons, seven of them took place in United States and once in Turkey. The reason why it took so many times was because I was going to the wrong doctors. People ask “How do you know you are going to the right one? You simply don’t!
I was referred to many doctors that did wonders for people I knew and also had a name for themselves. Before each surgery I felt that I didn’t have anything to worry about because I was going off of their credible reputation. Just because you like your friend’s nose doesn’t mean you’re going to like the nose the doctor gives you.
Because you didn’t start where your friend was and the doctor is still a person not a machine...
For my first surgery I picked a doctor (Dr. Robert Cooper Spokane WA) because my client referred him to me after she has her nose done. She looked so amazing and I thought to myself “If her nose looks that great, mine could too.”
All I wanted at the beginning was to fix a bump on my nose and pick up the tip of my nose. That is not the result I got. My bump fixed more or less, but my nose was more droopy than before. The tip was not even and crooked on the left. It was no longer natural looking, I felt that it looked like a bulb. I hated it. I just wanted my old nose, but there was no turning time back. So, I explored other options.
Sadly if you are not pleased, no doctor I know will offer you a refund. Instead, they do agree to adjust their initial work and just make you pay for the anesthesia and surgery room fee. This sounds reasonable, but if they don’t get your nose done right the first time, DON’T go the second time. Yes, it’s a great deal, but you’re better off going and spending your money somewhere else.
HERE ARE FEW PHOTOS OF ME AFTER MY 1st NOSE SURGERY
This one of my biggest mistakes in my journey, I was trusting the doctors that were messing up the vision I had for myself. Finally, after the revision of the first doctor I found another doctor (Dr. Wayne F. Larrabee, Jr Seattle, WA) and the exact same pattern happened. I remember trying to convince myself that I can live with it but I couldn’t. There were times where I would be sitting in traffic and looking in the mirror at myself and I could not stop crying.
So after 5 surgeries in I was done with friend/client recommendations. I did what I thought was necessary and went to the most well-known and expensive rhinoplasty surgeon I could find in the US (Dr. Ramtin Kassir New York, NY). His price was $20,000 and he said “If I can’t fix your nose no one else can.” That was all I needed to hear from someone with his kind of reputation.
PHOTOS DURING REVISION PROCEDURES IN BETWEEN VARIOUS DOCTORS
Did that surgery and price solve all my problems with the other doctors? Nope. Just because someone is well known and expensive does not necessarily mean they are the best surgeon. I learned that the hard way.
Little side note: Three of these doctors would tell me that after the cast comes off my nose would continue to heal smaller and look better every day, but it was quite the opposite. It would literally grow longer, get uglier, crookeder and fatter!!
PICTURES OF ME AFTER 7 SURGERIES, 3 SURGEONS AND BEFORE TURKEY
So I decided I need to look worldwide. Instagram brought me to my last nose doctor, in Turkey second post to come on my experience there). He ended up totally rebuilding my nose and taking out part of my rib for this procedure. Crazy right? I would say after surgery I’m 98% pleased with my nose. Going out of my comfort-zone and looking outside of the US was worth it to me!!!!
There were times where I felt discouraged, but that didn’t stop me from trying to achieve the vision I had of my best self. Looking back on my experience I have some advice that I think will help people that share the same desires as me. One thing I want to stress is that it’s extremely important to do your research and explore your options. Look at the surgeons work in and out of their office, on social media and any other place that can give you helpful information. Secondly, go in for a consultation not just at one place but multiple places, realize that traveling might be involved and give the doctor the clearest vision of what you want.
There are so many people who just live with their nose and aren’t pleased, which is sad. After eight surgeries, I am pleased with the result I view in the mirror. I remember going to a tulip festival about a month after my last surgery and scrolling through pictures my husband took on the camera and was tearing up. I didn’t feel like I needed to Photoshop my nose anymore. That’s when I knew I was not going to need to touch it ever again.
I am hoping again to help YOU meet your goals with increasing your self-confidence. If you didn’t find the advice you were looking for from my blog please reach out to me and I would gladly help you on your journey!
Quick dos and don’ts:
Sleep with surgical tape on your nose as much as you can or every night. This will help keep your desired shape!
Don’t blow, squeeze or pinch your nose.
Only use Q-tips for your nose and buy a lot of them.
Only massage your nose when the doctor tells you to and how to.
Don’t sleep on your face or the side.
Use common sense!
Xoxo,
Anna