Hi everyone, I would like to share my story from the beginning about the nose jobs that I did at a particular clinic. I do not wish to disclose the name of the clinic due to paranoia. All I can say is that a few years ago the ratings were not bad but now it dropped so much that everyone would avoid this clinic.
It all begins with a consultation, the surgeon advised me to go for teeth braces first before actually considering an Asian rhinoplasty where an implant is placed in the nose. I thought that, hey, for the surgeon to recommend me to go for braces first was a huge plus. I mean there wasn't any indication of a rush by him to go ahead with the surgery. It seems that going for teeth braces would make the nose more emphasized, which is what I aim to achieve as well.
However, after a year of braces, I am, unfortunately, still not satisfied and would still choose to opt for the rhinoplasty with him. Initially my nose looked really swollen and the nostrils were slightly uneven but I know that it is just part of the healing phase where my nose will go back to normal.
1 year after the rhinoplasty, I realized that my nostrils were still slightly uneven. My nostrils before the rhinoplasty are quite even, I understand that there isn't anyone that possesses perfectly symmetrical nostrils, but no one will usually can tell the difference unless they super closed up on my nostrils, they were even.
As silly and ignorant as I am, I then decide to go for nasal temporary fillers after reading that it could stimulate collagen production and could make the nose bridge even higher and mask the uneven nostrils. The surgeon has warned me of risk of infection if I go ahead with the temporary fillers, but ultimately, I was too adamant to listen to his advice and decide to go through with it with him. At this stage I wished that the surgeon would tell me that problem with my nose is that it is still swelling because swelling for the nose tip can persist to 2 years instead of just 1.
I did the fillers again after some time when I notice that some of the fillers were dissolving. The nasal filler injections went well there wasn't any infection at all, but I guessed too much of it was injected and I do feel some strange dropping sensations in my nose, but it was still alright. I believe at this point I have a very slight nerve irritation but it was still very bearable.
Things starts to take a turn for the worse when I scratched the implant that was in left nostril, I didn't think it was the implant, I thought it was some nose booger that if I scratched it off my nostrils will be more even so, I have been scratching at it for 5 minutes and then I got this intense line of painful headache across the left side of my whole head.
After a few days, this headache did not go away, it affected my thinking, I become confused and agitated easily and very easily tired. I have gone back to my surgeon telling him what happen and he warned me not to scratch the implant.
I was really angry, not once was I warned of the implant exposed but hidden in my left nostril before or after the rhinoplasty, that it should not be scratched. THIS is the biggest negligence by this surgeon. I mean, how would the patient know that it is the implant that they are scratching? It is common sense for patients to automatically assume that it is a nose booger and that wouldn't be any implant in either nostrils. This is especially dangerous when one decides to go for nasal fillers as well. It is as though the surgeon is deliberately hoping that one day, I would scratch it without knowing that it is the implant.
The surgeon said I have some swelling and gave me antibiotics and about a few weeks later he said the swelling has gone down and I should be better. I told him that there is still the same level of pain/headache that could related to the nerves, he just advised me to see a doctor elsewhere.
Over the course of almost 4 years, I have been just visiting almost 20 doctors, going through the traumatizing experience of explaining the things that I did and what has occurred. It was extremely hard for me. The diagnostic tests such as MRI/CT brain scans and electromyography at government hospitals did not show any abnormalities with the facial nerves which means to me that these tests are very useless because I know the pain that I feel.
over the course of having this condition, I find that I could no longer wear my glasses, I have to taped it up to my forehead as my nose is too sensitive. That would mean washing my face would also be a problem which left me layers of skin on my nose. The symptoms would get worse over the first few months, I suddenly find that I could not eat properly, the left side of my jaw is really sensitive and then I could not move my left arm properly and next I have sitting issues and then sleeping problems due to the damaged/hypersensitive nerves. I am afraid of people touching anywhere on the left side of my entire body as the pain would get worse.
So of course, because of this condition, I wasn't able to work, there were too many things I couldn't do. It was so unimaginably hellish that I have sought suicide a couple of time. Fortunately, my family were supportive of me, well considering the fact that they never approve of me going for surgery in the first place, I am really lucky to have such caring family otherwise I would not be here sharing my story.
Fortunately, with the right treatment I am recovering from my condition albeit slowly, and now thinking back about these procedures, I truly regretted what I did and all I ever want to do is to get rid of the implant to get my old nose back and bury these traumatizing memories and live the my life to the fullest but unfortunately, in order to get rid of the implant, I have to go through another procedure again, which I really dread doing so and because of that I really really REALLY beg for any kind soul out there that would recommend me the best of the best doctors to remove everything that was done to my nose and get back to my exact old natural nose. For now, I am currently looking at Dr Adrian Ooi as there weren't any bad remarks about him.
I also hope that my story would help any of you still considering these procedures, to avoid the same mistakes that I did.
