I made this blog to talk about my current rhinoplasty
experience with Dr. Ryan Hsu in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. I’ve been on many forums
prior to making my decision to go to Dr. Hsu, so I figured it’s only fair
if I share my experience as well :)
I’ve been exchanging emails with Dr. Hsu since the beginning
of November. And for those of you who
are getting really delayed replies from him (or no replies at all), I think you
can always try emailing him again. It took me a couple of attempts to get a
reply from him (he must be really busy).
Dec 12 2013 – Initial consultation
Arrived at Le Jade Aesthetic Clinic in Kaohsiung. 萊佳形象美學診所
First impression of Dr. Hsu – very young looking ahahaha.
He’s actually quite approachable in person (in emails I thought he was kinda
cold, but I was wrong). He started off
by asking what I didn’t like about my nose.
My biggest concern was my bulbous nose tip. Second concern, I have a hump on my
nose. I asked for:
1.Smoothing out the hump on my nose
2. Nose bridge slightly higher, nothing too
unnatural
3. Make my bulbous nose tip more defined
4. Alar base reduction (he only suggested to reduce
it by a little bit because my alar is very thick)
…so in the end, basically every aspect of my nose needed
some alterations lol. I kept stressing
to him I want a natural outcome, just slight changes. Initially through email, Dr. Hsu suggested I
use rib cartilage, but after the consultation, he said bilateral ear cartilage
graft will suffice. Before leaving the
consultation, a nurse took a blood sample from me for a blood test.
Because I’m from overseas, Dr. Hsu scheduled the date of my
surgery very promptly, on Dec 14th.
Dec 14 – Day of the surgery
Arrived at Le Jade clinic at 12pm. Had to sign consent forms
and was told post opt instructions.
Before the actual surgery, I was led into a room to have my face
cleaned, but it was more like getting a facial. I even had one of those sheet
mask on for a good 15-20 minutes. It was
a good way to bring my nerves down before the surgery.
Into the operation room:
I had an IV inserted into the back of my right hand. Dr. Hsu
came in and started to mark my nose, and we briefly went over again what I
wanted, as discussed during the consultation.
The surgery was performed over local anesthesia + I was put to sleep
(b/c I was too scared to be awake during the procedure, lol). I don’t even know what my last words were
before I dozed off into deep sleep.
Next thing I knew, I was woken up by a nurse, in the
recovery room. I started to cough a
lot! Must be because I was using my mouth to breath. I waited out 10 minutes or so and decided
that I was well enough to get changed and go back to the hotel.
Dec 15-First check up
Next day after surgery I noticed some slight bruising under
my eyes. I hardly felt any pain on my nose or ear, just occasional pulsing on
the nose. The medicines must be working!
My nose was very stuffed up and constantly perfusing.
Had to go to Dr. Hsu clinic to get the nose packings
out. From what I read, they’re supposed
to decrease initial swelling. The
process didn’t hurt. My nose cleared up 50% after the removal. He also used a very fine suction to help
suction out bits of mucus to clear the airway. Dr Hsu gave me an additional
packing of medication to help with the swelling.
Returned to the hotel and examined the tip of my nose for
the first time. Still very swollen, but
I must say the alar is the way I want it. Straight across and not pinched “M”
shape, phew! The tip of my nose was so
weird to touch. It was really hard and
the skin looked stretched. My nose must
be really swollen. Not thinking too much
about it since it’s only the second day.
Dec 16
My cheeks were soooo swollen today. My jawline was almost non existent. I didn’t realize how swollen I was until I
tried smiling and my face just ballooned up.
Swelling travels down to the jawline due to gravity. It should be better in a few days.
Dec 17.
Second check up with Dr Hsu.
Today’s appointment was to remove the gauze/packing from inside the ears
(not the stitches behind the ears). I
didn’t know the packing was stitched into the ear (I guess to better hold it in
place?). So the removal part was a bit
painful.
Dec 18.
Swelling from the cheek is very slowly subsiding. Still pretty puffy though.
My nose started to itch today; around the cheek area where
there’s taping to hold the nose splint in place. As well as the nose portion that’s under the
splint. I just wish I can remove the
darn thing! I would scratch it gently on
top of the splint. And the area around the nose, I would just use the back of a
cotton swab to scratch it, making sure I don’t scratch any wound.
Dec 19
3rd check up with Dr. Hsu. I must say, I didn’t expect to be followed up
so diligently. lol. Dr. Hsu knew that I
lived fairly close to the clinic so he told me to come every other day just so
he can see my progress.
Dec 21 – THE REVEAL!
Woke up really early today because I was really excited to
have the splint and stitches remove.
Excited, but scared and anxious at the same time.
The removal of the stitches didn’t really hurt, just a slight
pinching feeling. Dr. Hsu only remove
the external stitches around the columella and the alar. He said he’ll remove the stitches inside the
nostrils next week. He cleaned up the
inside of my nose (feels so good that my breathing is restore around 90% now),
and then passed me the mirror. I was scared to look lol. I took me a while to get used to looking at
my new nose. It was definitely bruised
and swollen, but already looks smaller :D
Went back to the hotel and spend most of the evening examining
my new nose, hahaha.
I’m liking my new nose.
The width of my nose is smaller and the bridge is smoothed out. Plus he did a good job with the
stitches. The incisions on the columella
and the alar are not very noticeable. My
only concern right now is that the tip looks a bit over projected, a bit longer
than what I wanted. Dr. Hsu assured me
that it’ll be around 10% less in a few weeks’ time. Now I just have to wait patiently as my nose
softens and de-swell.
Before and After (post opt day 7)
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| Front - Before |
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| Front - After Slight bruising on the sides of the bridge |
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| Right side - before |
 |
| Right side - After |
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| Left side - Before |
 |
| Left side - after |
