My nose is collapsing
As I mentioned in other posts, my nose has narrowed significantly since my surgery. Now the bridge and front are collapsing. I still have horrible swellings on my face under my eyes. It is three months since the surgery. I saw an opthalmologist. I have to return in a week for another -*test*-('"). I have pain in my jawbones. My face has wrinkled and bunched and changed shape. I look nothing myself pre-surgery. The new ENT I am seeing will not give me a referral to a plastic sugeon until my infection is under control. I do not see why I couldn't go at least to have an evaluation of what is happening and why, what to expect and what can be done. I am going to see a different ENT in a few weeks. I think he will address this issue. I cannot just sit here and watch my face collapse without a doctor to talk to about it. I am in deep trauma.

Kris, You just sound like you're in so much pain. Can you post photos of what your nose looked like before and after surgery? Julie

I would be glad to. Not sure how or where I could post them on this forum. I am about to take my post-op photos to have them developed. I have an old style camera, and I will have to send the photos out, have them developed, have a photo cd made. It will take about a week. I know. I could probably set up one of those photos sharing sites, and provide a link. I think I can figure out how. I have some photos from July that are on a photo cd that I can put on the site. Unfortunately, there are none in profile on that cd. I took the pics myself looking into a mirror. I have a great pic of my nose in profile but it is old and not on a cd. I don't have scanner. The profile shows the worst damage. I had an even sweeping curve to my nose. Now I have a bump (the bridge falling downward) and another bump. I have tried to take some pics of the profile--again me taking the pic looking into a mirror. Not sure if they will turn out. Anyway, as soon as I get the pics and get them up, I'll post a link. My whole face is completely different.

it sounds like you need a new doctor some ENT's are plastic surgeons as well are there any in your area. Hope you feel better soon.

I talked to the office of an ENT plastic surgeon. The ENT plastic surgeon is a partner to the ENT I am seeing. The plastic surgeon does not accept my insurance so I could not go without a referral from my current ENT. They checked with my current ENT, and again, he said no referral until her infection is cleared up. When the office person called back, I talked to her some more and this was a little confusing to me. She said, "You understand don't you that Dr. S does cosmetic plastic surgery work. He cannot help you with your sinus issues." "I said, but he is an ENT, isn't he?" She said he was. I said, "Well, I just want to make sure he does not do anything to make my breathing problems worse." She said, "We always make sure to keep the airway clear, but the work is only cosmetic." She said, "What's the problem? You don't like you r nose?" I said, "It is collapsing." I picked him because he is an ENT plastic surgeon. I believe that my nose is collpasing because too much septum was removed. It seems crucial that the plastic surgeon address the septum issue in some way--or it seems like the fixed nose might collpase, too. Maybe I am wrong about this. I will know more when I talk to him. I would like to talk to more than one plastic surgeon.

Kris, I believe our situations are similiar. I never got into this aspect before on the board because it had nothing to do with the ENS part, but if it can help soneone, here goes. Along with the 1st surgery I had, I had opted for a rhinoplasty also. My thoughts were that getting it all sone at once would be better than getting surgery again later. along with all the damage he did with my turbs, he took out too much cartilage. Both sides of my nose collapsed and I could feel the insides of my nose touching, which drove me insane. I didn't know at that time that I had ENS also, I just thought I couldn't breathe from the collapse. I went to a new doctor, specializing in rhinoplasty revisions. He took the ear cartilage out of my left ear and put it on either side of my nose. My right side is fixed, my left side is still partially collapsed. I still had trouble breathing so i flew out to California and saw Dr. Paul Nassif who is sometimes profiled on that plastic surgery 90210 show. He was excellent and said he would have to rebuild my nose and that he is one of the few plastic surgeons that will spend about 4-5 hours doing that. He would have to use my other ear and probably rib. I trusted him but I wanted to wait. I eventually discovered this website and then realized I had more problems then I thought. I saw Dr Houser who diagnosed ENS from my symptoms and CT scan. I realize that you did not have a rhinoplasty but maybe with the septoplasty he removed enough to cause a collapse. I'm not an expert but I believe you should consult with a few plastic surgeons who can fix your collapse. But that may not help your ENS issues. Dr. Houser can help you with that. That's my advice after dealing with this problem for almost 4 years. It took me so long to figure it all out so if I can save someone some of the agony I went through, then it's worth it. I know this is hard, I deal with it every day too. Somedays your feel you can hardly deal with one more minute. I get so jealous of people with normal noses. some days I can handle it better. The winters are rough. I am looking into getting a whole house humidifier to help ease the dryness. I have a humidity/temp monitor at home and it says 30%, which is so low. I hope this helps. Better days are coming....we have to keep the faith that it will get better for us. So many medical breakthroughs are happening. Even if it is 10 years, then in 10 years we might feel great again. Everybody has issues to deal with and this is ours. We have to stay positive and help each other. Take care. Jen

Jennifer, I appreciate your reaching out to me. Do you mean that I should find a surgeon who is going to do inner work on the septum, and not just outer cosmetic work? See--I am not even sure where the septum is inside. When the surgeon who did this to me said he was going to straighten my septum, I thought it was just that piece inside the nose. My problems seem to be coming from septum removed from my forehead. Is that possible? I have verticla line, now, rising upward from my nose. Could that be showing something removed inside? Or did it rise up from something removed lower? Anyway, the bridge of my nose is now almost nonexistent. I do not know for sure, but I suspect that my nose collapsing and my ENS symptoms derive from the same issue--too much septum removed. About a week after the surgery, I touched my septum because I had bumped my nose. All the moisture immediately dried up in my nose, and ENS symptoms began. Thank you so much Jennifer. Keep me posted on what you do to fix your nose. Are you going to have a septum implant from Dr. Houser?