Alex

Procedure : Rhinoplasty

Hi everyone!

My name is Alex and I'm from Sydney, Australia.

I'm a model, and for years there was always something about my nose that bothered me. In certain lighting and from certain angles, it just looked a bit funny to me. I remember someone once made a comment about it that I've never forgotten...they said it looked like a bowling pin.

It sounds ridiculous now, but those kinds of comments really stick with you.

Before

My biggest concern was the front view. My nose was quite slim at the top and then flared out towards the bottom. I actually liked my side profile, so I wasn't looking for a dramatic change. I just wanted a straighter bridge and a little more definition in the tip. I didn't want a super pointy nose or anything like that. I've always just wanted a nose that looked straight and balanced.

After doing a ridiculous amount of research and watching what felt like every rhinoplasty video on the internet, I decided on Braun. What stood out to me wasn't just the results, but the aftercare. It never felt like one of those places where they do your surgery and send you on your way. Every patient seemed to be looked after throughout the whole recovery process, and that was really important to me.

I flew all the way from Sydney to Seoul for the surgery.

Before I even met my surgeon, I was taken for a CT scan. It was honestly so quick maybe like three mins.. Then I had some blood tests done. I was a little nervous, but it was all pretty straightforward.

I'd prepared some reference photos before my consultation. There was a particular nose shape I liked, but obviously I wasn't expecting to copy someone else's face. I just wanted to show the overall look I was hoping for.

I was weirdly nervous before meeting Dr. Ryu. Like, genuinely shaking nervous. Looking back, I don't even know why because he immediately put me at ease.

During the consultation, he was very honest about what would work and what wouldn't. I told him I wanted the tip more defined, but he explained that if we made it any sharper, it could end up looking pinched. He didn't think that would suit my face, so he recommended keeping things natural and focusing on improving the overall shape instead. He also explained that he would perform an osteotomy to narrow the nasal bones slightly.

The consultation was incredibly thorough. They even showed me a 3D CT scan of my face, which was honestly a little freaky to look at.

For the bridge, they discussed a few different options. If I wanted the absolutely smoothest possible bridge, silicone would've been the best choice. But after talking through everything, we decided to use dermal tissue instead. Since it's natural tissue, it creates a softer and more natural-looking result, which I preferred anyway.

The overall plan was to smooth and refine the bridge, make it look a little less wide, and shorten the tip slightly so it didn't look quite as long. We weren't lifting the nose or trying to completely change my face. I made it very clear that I didn't want my whole nose narrowed. I wanted to keep its natural width and character, just without the bumpiness and flare. They reassured me that they would focus on enhancing my nose rather than changing it.

Because of my height and weight, the team recommended general anesthesia rather than IV sedation. I'll be honest that made me sooo nervous. But seeing that there was a dedicated anesthesiologist monitoring me throughout the entire surgery made me feel a lot better.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up. Apparently I kept asking everyone for food and water. I barely remember anything, but I must have been starving.

I was taken to a private recovery room with its own bathroom, which was honestly really nice. They monitored me for a while and made sure everything was okay before I was allowed to leave. Once I was a bit more awake, one of the staff members sat down and explained all my medications and post-op instructions. I was worried I wouldn't remember any of it, but thankfully everything was printed out for me as well.

The nurses were amazing. I honestly had far less pain than I expected. The whole experience felt much less dramatic than I had imagined beforehand.

Eventually I got changed, finally got to drink some water, and my friend came to pick me up. Surgery day was done.

Day 1

The swelling under my eyes started to appear.

The hardest part was probably breathing through my mouth all the time. It wasn't painful, just annoying and something I had to get used to.

Day 2

I went back to Braun for my treatment.

Honestly, I spent the first two days mostly sleeping. Every time I woke up, I'd eat something, take my medication, and go straight back to sleep.

The swelling was definitely worse in the mornings, but my eyes were already looking a little better.

At one point I had swelling on my forehead that genuinely made it look like I was growing another brain. It looked ridiculous. Luckily it would go down whenever I got up and walked around.

The staff removed the cotton from my ear where they had taken cartilage and gave me an antibiotic injection.

Overall, I still felt surprisingly good.

Day 3

The swelling started moving down into the lower part of my face.

I still hadn't experienced any real pain. I even did my skincare routine, just very carefully around my nose because I was terrified of accidentally bumping it.

Day 4

Everything continued improving slowly.

By this point I'd probably read my post-op instruction sheet a hundred times just to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong.

I kept applying the antibiotic ointment and taking my medication exactly as instructed.

Day 5

This was probably the day I had been looking forward to the most.

I went back to Braun to have the packing removed from my nose. Instead of taking a taxi, I decided to catch the train because I wanted some fresh air and a bit of exercise. The staff had told me walking could help with swelling.

At the clinic, they removed the packing from my nose, removed my cast, and took the stitches out of my ear.

Being able to breathe through my nose again felt incredible.

After that, they washed and cleansed my face and gave me some skin treatments and a de-swelling laser treatment. I honestly felt like a completely new person afterwards.

The nurses were so gentle when removing the stitches. I had convinced myself it was going to hurt, but it really didn't. One of the nurses even gave me a little plush toy to hold and gently supported my face while she worked.

It sounds silly, but I remember thinking, "Wow, these people really take care of you."

It wasn't painful at all! just a little uncomfortable.

Then I finally got to see my nose without the cast.

Even though I knew there was still a lot of swelling, I already thought it looked great.

Day 7

My face was still a little puffy around the nose area, almost like there was a circle of swelling around it, but it was improving every day.

Still no pain.

I kept applying ointment to the incision sites three times a day and just focused on letting everything heal.

Two Weeks

The swelling had gone down so much.

I looked almost normal again, aside from a little redness and puffiness around the tip.

Honestly, I was already really happy with how everything looked.

Three Weeks

I was back home in Australia by this point.

The healing process had been incredibly smooth. Dr. Ryu told me I was already starting to get more definition along the bridge and around the tip.

Personally, I thought it already looked pretty much exactly how I'd hoped it would.

I was really happy.

One Month

I'd officially made it through the first month.

The swelling had continued to improve and the bridge was becoming more refined.

I started blowing my nose a little, even though you're technically not supposed to. Hay fever season in Australia was making that pretty difficult to avoid.

The tip was still slightly red, but Dr. Ryu told me that was completely normal and would continue improving over the next few months.

Five Months

Everything feels healed now.

For a while, the tip of my nose felt a little numb, but sensation gradually came back over time.

Looking at it now, I'm genuinely so happy with the result.

The shape looks natural, it suits my face, and most importantly, it still looks like me. It doesn't look like I got a completely different nose! it just looks like the version of my nose I've always wanted.

Coming all the way from Australia for surgery felt like a huge decision at the time, but looking back, I'm really glad I did it.

The entire experience~ from the consultation, to the surgery itself, to all the aftercare afterwards was smooth, professional, and honestly a lot easier than I expected.

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