Broke my nose 3 years ago this February and never did anything about.  Reason?  My nose did not bleed or hurt right after it happened, just got black and blue around the eyes.  No big deal.

That spring I developed allergies, not uncommon.  Since then my allergies got progressively worse.  Well I finally went to a ears, nose and throat doctor today and boy what a surprise I got, and I am not referring to the bill.  

First thing he asked me in the exam room is " how long has your nose been broken?"  Broken?  It's still broken?  Then he goes on to say "your septum is deviated as well."  Isn't that nice!  Now I am walking down the hall to the x-ray room.  Throw a lead shield over the important parts,  snap snap, all done.  Painless.

Back in the waiting room and the suspense is building up, my name is finally called and I go back to the doctor's office.  There he has my x-rays all ready up on the viewer and writing something in his appointment book.  "Well" he said "I have an opening June 4, its a Tuesday."
An opening for what?  Seems that my "allergies"
are a compression fracture of my nose, with possible nerve damage(hmm, no pain?), a deviated septum and a cracked orbital sinus that extend from my nose just past my eye.

I'm f**ked!  The doctor described how the procedure was done.  And it involves literally peeling my face off my head!  No thanks!  First, they shave the front portion of the skull.  Then they make an incision from ear to ear, over the top of the your the head.  And finally, they actually peel the skin off your skull and face to expose the area that needs repair.  

Come to think of it, I told the doctor, my allergies have gotten a lot better lately.

223REM

Seems like you need a 2nd through 10th opinion.

I guess I may be a bit of an expert on this now...just had upper pallet expansion done last week.  I would get another opinion.  Most of the stuff they do with the nose area can be done from inside the mouth.  NO cuts on the outside in most cases.  When they did my pallet expansion, everything was done inside above the gums.  They had to cut my septum and is loose right now.  They also cut my skull on each side and under my nose.  I am cranking open the expansion device this week....  1mm a day for 6 days.

I've been adjusting my nose and septum a couple times a day to make sure it heals straight....codeine is good, let me tell you!  Go through with it, but get another doctor.  If you don't it will bother you the rest of your life.

Doug

I'd definitely get a second opinion, see what can be done.  I've seen the procedure  you're talking about.  Pretty interesting... they DO literally peel your face off of your skull.  Heals fine.  Weigh the options man, go under the knife, or put up with the shit you're going through now.  

ME: I'd take my film to another doctor and see if he would do the same thing.  Then I'd find a doctor that's DONE it before, or something similar (we know doctors kill more people than guns! ;) ), and have it done.  But I'd make DAMN sure they KNOCK MY ASS OUT FOR A WEEK.  I don't want to wake up feeling my face peeled off of my skull!

Anyway, I hope it works out for you Rem.  Let us know.  

(and get pictures if you can!!!)

I'm debating an operation right now too. About a year ago my jaw joints started popping and clicking painfully. Then they locked up tight as hell and I couldn't open my mouth more than .5 inches for about two weeks. With lots of ibuprofin it loosened up. Went to a dentist. Turns out the problem is that my teeth don't line up. It's impossible for me to get my bottom teeth behind my to ones. The teeth not lining up is causing my jaw joints to wear funny. The solution is that they break my jaw and move the bottom one back about .5 cm. I'd have to have my jaw wired shut for a while. No thank you. I'll stick to ibuprofin. Maybe if I get an ulcer from the ibuprofin I'll reconsider the operation. Has anyone done anything like this? How did it go?

Check with another oral surgeon.  My wife had double jaw surgery last fall for the same reason you have.  She had to have her upper jaw shortened (they cut a slice out) and her lower jaw adjusted up.  They did both at the same time.  The surgeon she went to does NOT wire the jaws shut unless they absolutely have to.  Otherwise the pin everything into place and let it heal.  If it is loose, everything heals faster and better they say.   It sucked for her, but better that than not being able to open your mouth at all in the future....or loosing your lower jaw.  Plus you get months of Narcotics.

Narcotics, woo hoo.

I'm still a little leery of the whole thing.
Before this visit I hadn't been to a dentist in 16 years, just so you know a little of my liking of dentists. I really don't like the idea of being put under.

How long did it take your wife to heal?

I figured that if i did it, i'd learn to like rare steak put into the blender. The locked down jaw was because if inflamed tendons he said. From what djk said (no wiring) it sounds like I should probably be seeing an actual oral surgon instead of this schmoe dentist. The plus side would be that I'd probably shed some gut if I had my hole wired shut for a while.

She was on liquids for 1 month and the swelling was down for the most part after 2 months.  She looked pretty damn tough for that 1st month.  Looked like someone beat the hell out of her face with a baseball bat...black and blue and really really swelled up.

When I had my surgery last week, they gave me different pain stuff in recovery.  They must have used 4 or 5 different pain meds.  I had some bad bleeding after surgery so they had to repack my sinuses 4 or times to get the bleeding stopped.  One of the drugs they gave me in the hospital made me see pretty colors and patterns.  Another one they gave me in the recovery room made my ass tingle really bad...or should I say good...  They even warned me about that one beforehand.

I'm still on tylenol 3 right now through the end of the week.  I help to sleep, and when the pain flairs up some.

I've lost 17 lbs over the last 3 weeks....liguids only for 3 more weeks.  You will loose weight wired or not.  No chewing allowed.

Oh wonderful!  Just love all the words of encouragement.
Well, if it is going to happen, it isn't any time soon.  Can't afford to miss work or the beach this summer.  Not sure if I would like the nickname [red]Zipperhead[/red] anyway.  
I have another appointment set up with a different doctor, so we will see.

223REM

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I am allergic to general anesthesia.  How would they pull that off?

223Rem,

I knicknamed myself pezhead....

I would talk to a couple oral surgean's and Ear eye nose throat people.

They're all sorts of general anesthesia now a days.  Lots of choices with modern gas passing.  Thats one thing you can be thankful for.  When I had mine done, I went into the operating room, they got me all settled and in place, said they were going to give me something to relax and 2 hours later they were all done.  woke up feeling really good.  The operation went very well, other the the post surgical bleeding, but that is rare.

AlClenin - get the procedure done asap.  I wish to hell I had gotten mine done when I was in HS on my parents' insurance dime.  Your teeth WILL start to wear out where they are hitting each other.  Condition is called TMJ.  They can move the top bridge forward, the jawbone backward, or a combo of the two.

Get if fixed!

Good luck 223Rem!