3 months post Botched Primary Rhinoplasty/Septoplasty
First 4 photos are 3 months post op, last four photos are pre op. Please excuse bad makeup.
Hello, I got a primary rhinoplasty/septoplasty with a well rated plastic surgeon in early February 2026. The purpose of the surgery was to remove a small dorsal hump and slightly refine the front. I loved my nose as a kid, teen and adult but as I've aged, I felt like the nose has gotten bigger in proportion to my face, and the dorsal hump was getting worse from the side.
I'm over 3 months post op at this point and I knew from day 7 when my cast was removed that something was wrong. My right nostril was notched and much higher than my left nostril upon cast off. Also, the nose was so narrow for being so soon after surgery. Usually, you see people with wide potato noses due to swelling, and the noses thin out over time. My surgeon didn't point out the retraction upon cast off and recommended taping. I flew home on day 10. When I pointed out the retracted nostril around week 2-3, he recommended daily massaging to help with scar tissue. I did, but it really didn't do much. I taped every day for 2 months and at night until month 3. Now at 3.5 months, my nose is way too slim for my face. Even if the right nostril didn't retract, he took out way too much cartilage. Even the left side (picture 2) doesn't look great and that's the side that didn't retract.
Pre op, my right nostril was smaller than my left nostril before as seen in picture 7, and you can clearly see in the picture 6 with the headphones that I had some type of scar or imperfection on my right nostril. I feel like the removal of too much cartilage contributed to the retraction despite the original imperfections, and he didn't have to remove so much! Thankfully, the nose is structurally fine and I can breathe wonderfully.
I have a consultation with a top revision surgeon "A" in September. He is very lowkey and not on social media, and won't do consults with patients until month 8-9 because there's really no point since the nose keeps changing. He has happy patients claiming that he can virtually restore birth noses but make them better. He doesn't have any patient communication groups that I know of. He does long consultations. I also am in a group for another big trending revision surgeon "B", who is known for revisions and has done good work with overly resected cartilage and retracted nostrils. He is active on social media but not to a crazy extent. There is another revision surgeon "C" who is in the south and massive on social media but has a few unhappy patients in his group. He is the most expensive.
My primary surgeon has been very communicative with me throughout these past three terrible months and is offering to do a closed alar rim graft using ear cartilage for free under general anesthesia at month 6-7. However, I'm not sure if I trust him to do this without making anything worse. In addition, I don't think I'll be happy with just the nostril fixed. I desperately need some width back. He really took out way too much cartilage and I just wanted a minor refinement. He has a perfect Real Self review and great before and afters with ethnic patients with thick skin(now I know realself reviews can be faked) but now I know he's not as good as I thought he was.
Should I do a small local revision at month 6 with my primary surgeon or wait to do one at 1 year with a better revision surgeon? It's hard to wait the full year for a revision because I have to wait another 9 months and my job is very front facing and I've been very depressed. I'd really appreciate any advice and opinions.