Billie Langford had hated her nose her whole life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just one of those things you just live with,\u201d she says, explaining that rhinoplasty just never rose to the top of her priority list.<\/p>\n
But then she started seeing a new dentist who pointed out that the biggest problem wasn\u2019t how her nose looked, but how it worked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI filled out a new patient survey and one of the questions was something like, \u2018How do you sleep? Do you wake up refreshed?\u2019\u201d Langford recalls.<\/p>\n
She acknowledged that she usually woke up tired, so the dentist sent her home with an oxygen sensor to sleep with for two nights. The dentist, Jill Hansen, wasn\u2019t surprised to see her oxygen levels dip repeatedly in the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said, \u2018We\u2019ve seen your septum when we\u2019re working on you,\u2019\u201d Langford says.<\/p>\n
In fact, Langford had had a badly deviated septum since birth. She couldn\u2019t breathe out of one nostril and she \u201cwhistled\u201d when she slept. But she had no idea her medical insurance would consider repair a medical necessity.<\/p>\n
At her dentist\u2019s urging, Langford went to see an ear, nose and throat specialist who referred her to Joseph Shvidler, MD. During the initial meeting, Dr. Shvidler talked about her breathing issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me, \u2018It doesn\u2019t help that half your nose is caved in,\u2019\u201d she recalls. \u201cI thought, \u2018Oh my goodness! My nose is caved in!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But Dr. Shvidler quickly reassured her: \u201cIt\u2019s OK. I\u2019m going to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a board-certified otolaryngologist (ENT) and facial plastic surgeon, Dr. Shvidler is well-qualified to treat both functional and cosmetic issues. He explains that deviated septums can be present at birth, as Langford\u2019s was, or the result of trauma, including sports injuries. Anyone who has difficulty breathing through their nose, particularly on one side, should see a doctor to determine if it\u2019s a deviated septum, nasal sidewall or valve collapse or other structural issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s a breathing issue, insurance will usually cover it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
In Langford\u2019s case, the deviated septum repair was clearly medically necessary. But as long as she was under anesthesia and he was already working on the nose, Dr. Shvidler could do cosmetic work that Langford would pay for out of pocket. It made sense to combine the surgeries both from a medical and financial standpoint.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to go through the surgery and not get what I wanted at the end,\u201d she says. \u201cHe definitely takes an artist\u2019s approach. He was just so relaxed, and I walked out of there knowing I was in the right hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recovery wasn\u2019t as painful as she feared.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love my nose so much it was just a blur,\u201d Langford says. \u201cOne of my favorite parts was when Dr. Shvidler took the cast off and he had such a look of pride on his face.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s night and day,\u201d she says of life after rhinoplasty. \u201cI can breathe! I sleep sounder, I wake up feeling more refreshed and I fall asleep much quicker because I\u2019m not tossing and turning to find a spot where the whistling stops.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cosmetic result was just as transformative. Her new nose seems to fit her face and appears completely natural, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest comment I get is that I look more youthful,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The change in her appearance has bolstered her self-esteem and her attitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day I would tell myself how much I hated my nose,\u201d she says. \u201cYou don\u2019t realize it until you\u2019re not saying it anymore, but we send messages to ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
With her newly shaped nose, that self-talk has turned positive for the first time in years, she says: \u201cI love, love, love my nose!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Langford had had a badly deviated septum since birth. She couldn\u2019t breathe out of one nostril and she \u201cwhistled\u201d when she slept.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":315,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ent"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n