Nosey
March 10th, 2009 | Posted in: Plastic Surgery |
Nosey
By Carol at the Concierge
Do they have to call it RHINOplasty?
Some people are born beautiful. You have seen them, cherubic angels with curly hair running wild as toddlers, starring in their elementary school pictures, Gods and Godesses in High School.
Then, there are those of us that were not born perfect. You see, I was born with an unfortunate nose. I blame my father, or actually his side of the family. On a grown man it was not so terrible, on a five year old girl well…. Most of my elementary school pictures range from goofy to tragic. Especially the year my Sister cut my hair to resemble a mushroom top, but let’s just say years of therapy may have finally put that one into perspective. All during my teenage years I would attempt to break it in the hopes that I would go to the hospital and magically it would come out beautiful. No such luck, apparently noses are pretty bendable. So, right out of high school I borrowed the amount necessary to visit a talented plastic surgeon to help me with my not so little problem.
This was more than a decade ago. Dr. Chiu and I had yet to cross paths. I did, however have an experience a month or two ago that really brought to light his brilliance as a plastic surgeon. A girl much like myself came into our office. She was a very attractive girl with a very unfortunate nose. She was almost the same age I was when I was able to get my Rhinoplasty.
We became soul sisters. We started talking and I found out she was scouring most of Southern California for the right plastic surgeon. She had driven from a few hours away with the determination to have the nose of her dreams. She had put a lot of thought into what she wanted it to look like. By the time she visited us she had already had three other consultations with three other plastic and cosmetic surgeons. She was frustrated because some of them wanted to be too conservative or to give her THEIR version of her future nose. She knew exactly what she wanted, because she had plenty of time to think about it. She wanted HER version of her future nose. Whose nose is it anyways??
Dr. Chiu as usual, spent an extensive amount of time with her discussing what she was looking for. There were many before and after photos shown, his artist renderings of her profile, discussions back and forth about procedure and overall hand holding.
It took her a little time to decide. A few days later she called and said she was scheduling surgery with Dr. Chiu. I was so excited for her! I knew she had made the right decision, having seen previous Rhinoplasty patients of the Doctors and knowing the time and effort he puts into every patient. I knew her results were going to be every bit as wonderful as she imagined.
Her post surgical appointment was the day after surgery. She had her bandage on, her eyes glowing behind it with excitement. The funny thing about Rhinoplasty is that there really isn’t pain after surgery, it’s more a feeling of pressure. Of course the bandage is pretty big the first few days, but the results are even bigger. I remember when my bandage came off I cried. It wasn’t from sorrow, just disbelieving joy.
Our patient came in the other day with her bandages off and grinning from ear to ear. I asked her how she was feeling. She can’t get over how happy she is, it is even better than she imagined. As it just so happened that another patient’s husband was in the lobby at the time. He was so impressed by her before and after photos (she was happy to let the Doctor show him) that he booked his wife’s surgery in that dayJ
