No more stints or stitches!
Today, Caleb went for his one week post-op appointment. This meant bandages would be removed and the nose stints would come out. He was a bit excited.
The nose stint had to be cut out which was a bit painful and he had a bit of bleeding. He is still very tender around the nose and naturally has swelling. Crusted, dried blood in around his nose and we are to gently wash it over the next few days to loosen it. No scrubbing. No pressure. Easy. Gentle. Slow. Delicate tissue needs to heel.
Caleb says it feels much better to have the stints out. He is all clear for all the rough housing, climbing, jumping and general boy antics he wants to do. Did Dr. Van Aalst really have to tell him that?
We go back in a month and see how things have healed up.
A bit of a comparison…..
This was the most serious face I could get of him today. Boys.
You can note on his left nostril (your right) that it is not as flat as before. Nice and rounded. I need to get a profile shot; you can already see that his nose protrudes more; extra healthy tissue was a big help there.
Hard to tell in the before but he has scar tissue right at the base of the nostril as well as the ones running up from his lip. It appears that the scars at the nostrils will be gone as well as the ones running up from the lip. That area between the scars (can not remember the technical name) was really too wide before and was an issue for lip movement and the nose flattening. They narrowed that up as well. A better shot in a few days when the blood is gone, lol.
Wonderfull! He is already a lovely handsome young man… what will he be after all this great surgery???