Source: wellstonjournal.com<\/p>\n
A woman who had her first rhinoplasty when she was just 14 years old has regained her confidence after having a fifth surgery to fix her misshapen \u2018pig\u2018s nose.\u2018\u00a0<\/p>\n
Erika from Austin, , appeared on Monday night\u2018s episode of the E! reality series to meet with Dr. Paul Nassif and Dr. Terry Dubrow as a last-ditch effort to get the nose of her dreams.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018My nose looks bulky, nice and wide, and you can see my nostrils\u00a0\u2014 and I have a huge scar on my left side,\u2018 she explained in her testimonial.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scroll down for video\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Erika said that she works at her family\u2018s restaurant and customers would actually come up to her and say her nose \u2018looks ugly\u2018 or ask why she \u2018that scar.\u2018\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I wanna have pork on my menu, in my restaurant, not on my face,\u2018 she griped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said she never noticed her nose when she was a little girl, but that all changed when her cousin asked her, \u2018Why do you have a pig\u2018s nose?\u2018\u00a0<\/p>\n
For her \u2018sweet 15,\u2018 she asked her father for a nose job, and while he thought she was \u2018crazy,\u2018 he eventually relented.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Erika was only 14 when her father found her a plastic surgeon in Austin who would perform the surgery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Fourteen is a little bit too young for a girl to have a rhinoplasty,\u2018 Dr. Nassif told the camera. \u2018The minimal age that I will do it is 15, as long as the girl has finished her growth spurt.\u2018\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two weeks after her surgery, Erika noticed a dent on the right side of her nose. She waited until the summer to go under the knife again for a second surgery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the procedure, there was a dent on the other side of her nose, so her father opted to find her another surgeon in Guadalajara, Mexico.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A few weeks after her third rhinoplasty, she noticed that \u2018something was popping out\u2018 and a \u2018little scar was appearing.\u2018\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018We actually called the surgeon and he tried to fix it, but I remember waking up in the middle of the surgery,\u2018 she recalled. \u2018He was actually sewing me up.\u2018<\/p>\n
\u2018Anesthesia awareness, where you\u2018re awake and experiencing the surgery, but you\u2018re paralyzed is one of the most devastating complications in all of anesthesia,\u2018 Dr. Dubrow explained in his testimonial. \u2018It must be avoided at all costs.\u2018\u00a0<\/p>\n
Erika admitted she was too scared to go\u00a0back to Guadalajara\u00a0to ask to get her nose fixed for the fifth time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I have a crooked nose,\u2018 she told the doctors, noting that she would like it straighter and narrower.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the examining room, Dr. Nassif had Erika pinch her nostrils to show how narrow she would like her nose to be and then asked her to speak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The exercise proved that making her nose any slimmer would not only give her a nasal voice, but it would also make it more difficult for her to breathe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Erika showed the doctor a picture of her mother\u2018s nose, which is \u2018perfect\u2018 in her eyes. Dr. Nassif finally realized that she wanted her nose to be longer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I see what you want; however, there\u2018s not a lot of elasticity and stretch with your skin,\u2018 he told her. \u2018When I lengthen a nose and the skin\u2018s not great, we can compromise the blood supply to the nose. There\u2018s a risk that the skin over your nose can die.\u2018<\/p>\n
Erika felt like she was in \u2018good hands,\u2018 and readily agreed to a fifth rhinoplasty.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018If you\u2018re willing to take the risk, I\u2018m willing to take the risk,\u2018 he replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr. Nassif used rib bone, grafts, and\u00a0microdermabrasion to reconstruct Erika\u2018s nose during the surgery, which was a success.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2018ve been having problems with my nose since I was eight years old. I had four surgeries and I still had a pig\u2018s nose,\u2018 she said. \u2018So, after all these years, I finally have the nose I deserve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018You know, I feel like I\u2018m empowered, and I just feel gorgeous. From today on, it\u2018s going to be a new Erika.\u2018<\/p>\n
The mom was all smiles when she proudly showed off her new nose to her husband David, her son Mathias, and her longtime friend Jeanette.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Thanks to Dr. Nassif, my nose is longer, it\u2018s more narrow and you can\u2018t see into,\u2018 she told the camera.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[654,101,166,53,796],"class_list":["post-3164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cosmetic-plastic-surgery","tag-nose","tag-rhinoplasty","tag-surgery","tag-treatment","tag-woman"],"yoast_head":"\n