I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how we process "truth" in our modern era, and it feels like we’re hitting a breaking point. It’s not just about whether a piece of information is factually correct or debunked; it’s about the psychological pull of a narrative that feels intuitively right to a certain group of people. There’s this weird phenomenon where, once a person latches onto a specific concern—even if it’s based on a total misunderstanding of science or a complete coincidence—it becomes part of their identity. If you challenge the premise, you aren't just correcting a fact; you’re attacking their worldview.
I remember back in my early twenties, I had a friend who became absolutely convinced that a specific type of holistic diet was the only way to prevent certain illnesses. It wasn't just a preference; it became a moral crusade. Every time someone showed him a peer-reviewed study or a massive data set suggesting that his approach was, at best, unproven and, at worst, dangerous, he’d just shrug and say, "Well, you can't trust the institutions." It was fascinating and terrifying to watch. Once you decide the "establishment" is fundamentally corrupt, you effectively become immune to any evidence they present. You create this closed loop where the more evidence there is against your position, the more you believe the evidence itself is part of the conspiracy.
This brings me to the broader implications for our collective decision-making. We are living in a time where "intuition" is being weaponized. We see people looking for patterns in chaos—linking two things that have absolutely no causal relationship—and then building entire political or social platforms around those false connections. It’s a slippery slope. If we can’t agree on the most basic, foundational realities of how the world works, how are we ever going to solve the big stuff? How do we address climate change, or economic instability, or public health, if half the population believes the data is being cooked by a shadowy cabal?
I think there’s a deep-seated psychological reason for this, too. There is a certain comfort in having a simple, singular explanation for complex problems. It’s much easier to say, "This one thing is causing all this trouble," than to grapple with the messy, multi-faceted, and often boring reality of systemic issues. It gives people a sense of agency. If you can point to a "villain" or a single "cause," you feel like you have a target to aim at. It turns a complex scientific or social challenge into a battle between good and evil, which is much more engaging for the human brain.
But the cost is incredibly high. We’re seeing a fragmentation of reality. We aren't just disagreeing on policy anymore; we are disagreeing on what is actually happening in front of our eyes. This makes discourse almost impossible. You can’t have a rational debate with someone if you aren't even using the same set of facts. It feels like we're drifting toward a future where "truth" is just whatever feels most satisfying to your specific tribe.
I'm curious to hear what you all think about this. When you see someone doubling down on something that is demonstrably false, do you think it's even possible to reach them with logic, or is the belief fundamentally a matter of identity and emotion? How do we protect the concept of objective truth when it becomes a social liability to believe it?
I went through the same thing—my nose was just covered in breakouts for an entire month. My whole face was breaking out, which was insane because I’ve seriously never had acne in my life. It was gross. Plus, the skin on my nose got incredibly oily. Just use an antiseptic acne toner to clean your face and honestly, you just have to deal with it and wait for your skin to get back to normal.
The hospital always keeps those swabs in for five days. You have to stay put until they pull them out, whereas a private clinic will just torpedo you and send you straight home as soon as you've regained some consciousness after surgery. The procedures are completely different...
People aren't posting nonsense here; they’re just sharing what actually happened to them. It's unfortunate that some people didn't have a smooth surgery on the first try, or maybe their recovery was a nightmare, or they had issues with their doctors. That doesn't make their stories "stupid." No one's experience here is stupid, so stop being insulting. It's actually good to see both the wins and the fails—it's all useful info. Just show some decency and quit calling other people's lives "stupid."
Nobody was trying to attack the girl; if anything, it’s the exact opposite. She clearly doesn't understand how any of this works, and then you get people jumping in here giving her "expert" advice like "insist on it," "don't give up," or "act like you can barely breathe..." just to pressure her into going to the hospital and demanding free cosmetic surgery. If she actually goes to a doctor and puts on that act, she’s just going to end up in an awkward situation and look like a complete joke. Are doctors supposed to be idiots? They can tell when someone has a legitimate medical issue versus someone playing games just to try and trick Medicare into paying for a procedure. Not to mention the whole moral and ethical mess of even trying that.
She doesn't even know if she has a deviation yet. Period. The only thing she can actually do is go for an exam, hear what the doctor says, and then decide on a plan based on that. Maybe she really does have a medical issue and they'll operate without any trouble. But let's be real—everyone here knows there is absolutely zero chance a hospital is performing cosmetic surgery on people and having insurance pick up the tab.
You can always claim you're having trouble breathing through your nose, complain about how much it bothers you, just muddle through that... just don't give up on it and that's that... a real doctor will spot a deviated septum immediately even if it's only 1mm off to one side, so just try it and see what happens...
Anyway, I'm at day 10 post-op. I took the foils off and removed the splint three days ago... my nose looks better every single day. It's straight, though there's still quite a bit of swelling, and the thing that's bothering me a little is that it isn't perfectly flat—meaning the hump is gone, but now there's a slight indentation. Well... the tip of the nose and the area near the bone are still swollen so I'm not really worried... it's obvious that it gets better every day... but obviously, it's not easy again, haha.
People, please stop talking nonsense... Don't get me wrong and I don't want anyone to take offense, but you can't tell someone things like that. Someone who doesn't have a deviated septum or any actual medical issue can't just walk into a hospital and demand an aesthetic nose job! Hello!!! An ugly nose isn't a medical condition!! Think about it—what if money was being spent on beautifying someone's nose while someone else with a serious problem couldn't get surgery because there's no money left!! For that stuff, you go to private clinics, you don't have Medicare paying for someone to fix their looks.
She has nothing to insist on if she doesn't have a deviation. On what basis would she insist? What's going to happen when she sees an ENT and they tell her there's no medical problem, and she tells them she needs the surgery anyway because, you know, she demands it?
First off, the girl needs to go for an exam, and if they diagnose a deviation, any doctor will operate on her because that IS a medical issue, and in that case, she has a right to the surgery. Then she can ask the doctors to touch up the aesthetics too. But I'm telling you, if there's no deviation at all, there's nothing to insist on, let alone expecting the hospital to perform plastic surgery for free.
Personally, I know a girl who tried the same thing—trying to play the doctors and pretend she had a deviation and breathing issues just to sneak in some cosmetic work... and they told her straight up that she had no problem and that the hospital certainly wouldn't operate on her via Medicare. So in the end, she went to a private clinic and paid for it. I mean, it's like some idiot thinking they could go to a hospital and insist on getting breast implants and having Medicare pay for all of that.
George Ramos11 said:The constant whining about deviated septums is getting on my nerves. This thread should be for people looking for cosmetic upgrades, not just those trying to fix some functional issue because of a deviation. Everyone has a deviated septum. Go back and read the first page for once and see what people are actually discussing. It’s easy enough to log in and demand detailed answers right away... stop being lazy and do some actual work for yourself.
Oh, really? Like anyone cares about what's bugging you!! This is America, and anyone can post or ask whatever they want on this forum! Whether someone actually decides to answer those questions is a completely different story. Nobody is going to ask for your permission before they post a question here!! This thread is for EVERYONE interested in nose surgery, so let people ask what they want!
Robin Sullivan8 said:I’ve got sinus surgery coming up soon. I looked into some stuff regarding the procedure and how the recovery goes. Also, I heard a rumor that you basically have to be naked during the operation 🙂 Anyone know anything about that? It’s probably not a big deal, just seems weird to me.
What do you mean naked?? You weren't born naked, obviously! But yeah, they’ll have you strip down from the waist up so they can hook you up to all those heart monitors and whatever else. Since you're a guy, it shouldn't be that awkward—honestly, women find that part way more uncomfortable. Personally, I didn't care at all. The second I stripped, I forgot all about it because that pre-op injection hits you so hard you just don't give a damn about being half-naked in front of a bunch of strangers.😁
What kind of surgery? Are you serious? If you go through with a nose job now, you might as well just get rid of it entirely since it’s already so tiny! Look, I totally agree that for guys, having an imperfect nose isn't even an issue. Unless they have some massive protrusion or a nose that looks like it was crushed in a bar fight, there is zero reason to touch it. I can't stand those fake-looking types, and God forbid my guy ends up with some tiny, upturned button nose!! I'm looking for a man, not a girl.
So, I was at the hospital (like I mentioned before), and they went through everything they were going to do to me before the surgery... step by step. Then, once it was over, my doctor sat me down again to explain exactly what had been done. Look, he wasn't giving me every single microscopic detail, obviously, but if someone goes under the knife and has absolutely no clue what actually happened to them? That’s just insane. Even if nobody offered to explain anything, I’d be the one asking questions. This is my health we're talking about. Letting someone just slice away at you without having a basic grasp on the situation is irresponsible and, frankly, stupid. I don't know how things work at private clinics, but on my discharge papers, it clearly states everything they did.
Yeah, look, everyone reacts differently, and there are definitely people who heard everything clearly while they were under the knife. I also don't get this idea that we wouldn't know—like, how would we not know if a surgeon actually broke a bone or just filed it down? Of course I know what was done to me, for Bog's sake!! Who even goes into surgery without asking around first or having any clue about what’s actually going to happen during the procedure?!
Rebecca Gomez37 said:Some of my friends had cosmetic surgery where they actually broke the bone to reshape that nasal pyramid structure. Trust me, it didn't hurt them any more than this is hurting me—maybe even less. Their noses were basically sculpted into something totally new: narrower, shorter, more upturned. It doesn't look fake at all. Meanwhile, we're over here stressing because they might shave off a single millimeter on the profile and that's the end of the world for us!!! Personally, I think Mile Horvat has a great nose... Did he tell you how long you have to wait before going back in for another procedure? I think it's the cartilage; when someone looks at me from the front, both sides of the cartilage area look way too swollen.
I don't know yet when I could go back under the knife. I was talking to a girl on a forum who dealt with the exact same issue, and she went back after six months. I know I can't go right away since my septum work is still pretty fresh, and I really don't want anyone messing around near there just yet. I should know everything in about two weeks... They didn't break my bones because my nose isn't some hideous, massive thing; I just needed to achieve a slightly more balanced, softer profile. That’s just swelling. Mine looked just as puffy. You might just have sensitive tissue, similar to what I have, so everything still feels bloated. There was this girl in the hospital who was being discharged the same day I arrived. She looked absolutely terrifying!! Even a week after her surgery, she still had dark bruising under her eyes. But they actually had to break her bones because her nose was completely shattered from some accident. I didn't even get bruises. I know mine was just a reshaping rather than a full bone break, but seriously, I had nothing.
Rebecca Gomez37 said:And what am I supposed to do? Just live with it for the rest of my life. This isn't like some bad haircut from a stylist where you just wait for your hair to grow back out. It's different. What I’ve got right now is maybe a 5% improvement, at best. I'm not looking for some tiny, narrow, pointy nose; I want something that looks relatively natural but actually gives my profile a better shape—you know, a bit of a saddle, some actual contour. Right now, it's just flat as a board. And when you look at it from the front where the bridge spreads out, I can clearly see these little bumps on both the left and right sides that don't even follow the line of my nose. They just jut outward.😢
Maybe that spot is still just swollen... I had that same thing where the bridge of my nose felt super wide, but it eventually settled down. Honestly, the area where things feel split doesn't even hurt me. Even last time when the doctor was pressing around there, I didn't feel a thing. It’s not like I have zero sensation—there’s a slight discomfort—but there’s no actual pain. The only issue is when I accidentally bump my nose here and there; then it hurts right where my septum is leveling out. Today is just one of those days... I have no idea how this is all going to play out. Based on what my doctor told me, if this doesn't clear up on its own, I'm looking at a bone fracture and having to get that fixed. That's going to be incredibly painful. So yeah, I'm definitely not exactly looking forward to that.
Rebecca Gomez37 said:And they're just pathetic.😢(( This is driving me absolutely insane. It’s enough to make anyone lose their mind. I told him straight up: if things aren't looking right at my follow-up appointment, I'm demanding a new surgery. I'm not playing around here. There’s way too much money on the line, too much pain involved, and honestly, enough hospital stays to last a lifetime. No mercy. I'm just wondering how long you have to wait before you can go in for another surgery. Maybe I sound crazy right now, especially since it’s only been three weeks, but I have a feeling things are actually going to turn around. I hope I'm wrong.😉
It bugs me too. Honestly, I really don't have the energy to deal with all that bullshit all over again. But then again, I want things fixed. I want it looking the way it’s supposed to look.
Rebecca Gomez37 said:Looks like we're all dealing with the exact same issues;((( I'm honestly pretty dissatisfied because it feels like things aren't getting much better... tomorrow marks my 3rd week and yeah, I know it's early, but it just doesn't feel right. My profile isn't even contoured yet, it's just flat. And when I look at it from the front, there are these two tiny bumps in the cartilaginous area—right where the bridge meets the tip—and I get this tingling sensation in that spot, almost like the nose isn't even mine. My follow-up appointment is in 3 weeks and I can't wait... I really just want to hear what the doctor thinks. Back when he took the tapes off after day 13, I told him it didn't look right, but he insisted you couldn't see anything definitive until a month had passed... saying the sweet spot is really between 3 to 6 months.
Yeah, my doctor told me the same thing—just give it a month for everything to "settle." When I went in for my first check-up, it had only been a week and a half since the surgery. The swelling is definitely down now; I can see that with the naked eye because my nasal bridge isn't as wide anymore. But that little bump? It's still right there. Sure, it looks smaller because the swelling subsided, but it hasn't gone away. And it looks bad. At least I know they'll fix it if it doesn't go down on its own. Though, honestly, I don't see how a bump like that just magically disappears...
slymarlin382 said:The root feels swollen to me too... kind of wide, and I can feel something swollen inside :S I don't even know what or how, but under my fingers it just feels like a knot (not that I have a better word🙂) 😕
It's been a month since the surgery, and it's still swollen like this... I can't wait for my follow-up to ask the doctor when this is actually going to go down. 🤷
That’s exactly what I’m dealing with. It isn't swollen anymore, but I can feel a specific little lump right under my finger. It's been three weeks since my surgery and I have a check-up coming up soon, so they'll tell me what the plan is then.
Dana Cruz44 said:also, the situation was massive. I hadn't slept in months. Constant sneezing, endless drooling, and my nose was so raw it kept bleeding... it was honestly terrifying. I even had to take direct injections right up my nose (gross and painful as hell!!!). My nasal lining was so swollen I was actually contemplating jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge:-) basically, I'm fine now:-)
That sounds brutal... Well, thank Bog you got it sorted out. I've never heard of a case being that intense. Seriously heavy.
Dana Cruz44 said:I went through with a septoplasty and honestly, never again. It wasn't about looks—it was purely functional—but the whole thing was a bust. I don't want to scare anyone, but I wouldn't touch that procedure with a ten-foot pole ever again. To make matters worse, they did it under local anesthesia. They were just chatting away while I sat there, unable to move, and it was incredibly awkward. In the end, it turns out the surgery wasn't even necessary because it was just a massive allergic reaction. They actually suggested a turbinate reduction next! After a heavy dose of corticosteroids, the issue is finally sorted. I’m sleeping like a baby now and the last thing I want is to go back under the knife. Life's already cut me deep enough as it is...
Hmm, that's weird. How does someone even get operated on if there isn't an actual deviation? What was the basis for that? And if you don't mind me asking, where did you have this done? I am completely satisfied with my septum correction. I really don't have any issues at all.
Dana Diaz said:I had the exact same experience at the hospital. It started with my breathing—I’ve been stuck on nasal spray for two years now, and honestly, I can’t function without it. They eventually told me I needed septoplasty, so I asked if they could do a little aesthetic work while they were at it. That’s when the red flags started popping up. My doctor just goes, "Sure, no problem. Just take your medical history to the nurse, she'll tell you which tests to bring in and set the surgery date. See you then!" I don't know if I've watched too many movies or something, but I'm not stupid enough to just show up on the day of a surgery without ever actually speaking to the staff. I have no idea what they plan to do to me, how my nose is going to end up looking, or any of that. I thought I’d actually get to sit down with the surgeon and talk through the details, but apparently, that’s zero chance. When I read your post, I couldn't believe it—it was exactly what I was afraid would happen to me. So yeah, I walked away from that hospital entirely. 😢
Look, it’s really not that big of a deal. You probably just got spooked because of what I posted earlier. You have to realize this isn't some boutique private clinic; the doctors there are absolutely slammed. They don't exactly have the luxury of sitting around for half a day debating the fine details of your nose shape. The doctor who examined you and gave you the diagnosis is the same one performing the surgery—she already gave you the date, didn't she? Obviously, you'll see her again for a pre-op checkup before the actual procedure, but expecting her to carve out an hour just to sit and philosophize about your nose design? That's unrealistic. I’ve been there myself. People are just way too busy. I’d recommend the Vinogradski Expert to anyone. Most of the doctors and nurses there are actually decent people. What happened to me was a mess, honestly, but thank God I sorted it out. It should get fixed if they don't pull back, and I know I don't need to stress about it. We all watch way too many American movies and TV shows, so we walk around thinking everyone’s going to drop everything to cater to us the second we step foot in a hospital. There’s really no reason to be paranoid. The surgeon is going to check you out before the procedure and talk you through how things are going to go, but you have to be realistic. They don't have half a day to spend focusing solely on you. It's the same deal at any hospital in the country.
So, I went in for my follow-up and had a chat with the doc yesterday. He confirmed he can actually feel that little bump under his fingers too—so I wasn't just imagining things, and no, the surgeon didn't accidentally graft someone else's nose or a piece of floor debris onto me!! He mentioned it could still be some lingering swelling, but there's also a chance my tissue is just extra sensitive and left a bit of scar tissue behind while he was "smoothing" everything out, which caused the bump. Anyway, he told me not to stress and to swing back by in a month for another check-up. If things haven't leveled out by then, we'll look into a revision surgery to redo it. I have to say again, Tomljenovic is top-tier. Truly a phenomenal doctor and just a great guy to deal with! Thanks for all the supportive comments, everyone. As for that one rude, arrogant comment? It’s completely irrelevant anyway.