I booked in for a consultation and got a cancellation less than two weeks away. Unfortunately on the way in, I got stuck in a bad traffic jam and was nearly an hour and a half late. I was in complete tears because I thought that’s money down the drain; but I phoned up, and the team were so lovely! They told me not to worry, to just get there when I could, not to rush, and they’d squeeze me in somewhere during the day.

Got there, teary eyed and red faced, and they told me to take a deep breath, not to worry, gave me lots of reassurance that it was okay, and when I was calm I went in with JRJ’s “2nd in command”. (Her title has completely gone in one ear and out the other.)

She took the first part of the consultation. She had a chat with me; asked about my nose, took the pictures, went over the ‘boring’ information. I then met JRJ. The Clinic is extremely posh! (Everyone is SO well spoken dahling!, I felt a bit out of place!) But he was the most lovely man. Nothing but smiles and friendliness and I was at complete ease.

It was so lovely to hear someone say “yes, you do have a hump and a large bulbous tip” and everything I already knew. (So fed up getting the usual “Oh but your nose is fiiiine” from everyone else.) I told him what I wanted, he said what he could do, and we looked over a photo where he edited the nose (then and there) and moved it about until we were both happy with the (what hopefully would be) the result.

I had got another consultation booked with IM for 2 weeks after that. However I just knew that JRJ was the man for me, and I booked in for my surgery before I left the Clinic. Luckily I managed to get a surgery appointment just over a month from the consultation. So in total my whole experience from consultation to surgery was 6 weeks long. I left with a prescription for antibacterial wash and nose cream to use before surgery; pack of information; phone numbers; and I was told if I had any questions I could phone up any time, and I got given email addresses if I thought of anything and could just email through. Completely supportive. Left feeling very happy.

Surgery day came, arrived for 7.30am, I was second surgery (at 9.30am). JRJ came and checked I was okay before surgery, and we went over what he was going to do, checked if I had any queries, etc. I woke up after surgery and just felt like I had a bad cold. Was still a bit ‘out of it’ because of anesthetic, but all was okay. Snoozed on and off throughout the day, the nurses came in frequently to check I was fine, and I had the most lovely scrambled eggs for lunch. (You get a meal in the afternoon.)

JRJ came back later on to check I was okay to be discharged, and he was full of smiles and said the surgery went wonderfully, and he was very happy with the procedure. I got more information, and some numbers that I could phone 24/7 in case I had any worries or problems.

Straight away I could see the difference in the front part of my nose. I had a bit of over hang on the bit of skin between the nostrils, (I was always pushing it upwards and wishing it would just stay up!) – that was gone. Also, where most people have noses that curve round from the bottom, I had a disjointed bit so my nose came out, stopped, and then the curve continued (If you imagine from the bottom of the nose round the tip is supposed to be a smooth semi-circle. Mine was like a like ‘ C_ ‘ the line came out of the bottom of the nose, stopped, before curving round (C_ isn’t the best representation, but hopefully it makes sense!) Making my bulbous tip seem larger than it really was. My boyfriend took me home, as I had day surgery and couldn’t drive.

The rest of the week passed by pretty quickly. No problems. Just felt like I was off with a bad cold. Didn’t shower (as advised), just a bath every day. But I didn’t have any problems and managed to wash my hair. You just don’t put your head all the way in. Slept upright, which was probably the most annoying thing about the week, as I sleep curled on my side. No blowing nose, just dabbing.

I had the usual blood drip for a few days. On the 4th evening, I did have a stream of blood coming out (not a lot , a small stream) and phoned the off duty mobile and a nurse told me it was most likely a clot had moved, and not to worry. It stopped shortly thereafter anyway. Woke up in the night to another small stream, lasted about 20 minutes before stopping. After that, not even a drip of blood since.