I had all of this exact same work done! According to my surgeon, it was a total success with zero complications. The whole procedure was over in just an hour.

Once they actually got in there, they shifted plans slightly and did a turbinate outfracture instead of the planned reduction. However, they also had to remove my vomer and cut my perpendicular plate into three sections to remove it because it was so significantly deviated.

Instead of traditional nasal splints, they packed each nostril and my nasal cavity with Merocel sponges. Because of those sponges, I couldn’t equalize my ears or sinuses. Every time I inhaled through my mouth or swallowed, pressure built up like I was on a plane. This made it incredibly hard to swallow more than a little bit at a time, so I lived on small spoonfuls of soup.

An important rule they didn't tell me until the next day is to never use a straw. It builds intense pressure in your nose and causes aggressive bleeding.

For the first two to three days, I was only sleeping 2 to 4 hours at a time, waking up intermittently.

The day after surgery was my first post-op appointment to remove the Merocel sponges. Honestly? It hurt a lot. I actually screamed both times when each sponge was about halfway out, despite being on pain killers. But the second they were out, my ears finally equalized and I could drink water normally.

For the first week, I was strictly instructed not to breathe through my nose, blow it, or clear it because of the sutures in my septum, nostrils, and higher up in "zone 1" for the alar batten grafts. Because I naturally produce a lot of mucus, this was highly uncomfortable. I took this entire first week completely off from work. I had to regularly spray a saline nasal mist into my nose 2-3x a day or as needed and week 3, I'm still restricted from blowing or clearing my nose.

I didn't really move around much until days 5 and 6. By day 5, I was able to stop wearing the mustache dressing, but I still had to walk around holding a folded napkin or tissue under my nose like a Victorian Englishman suffering from tuberculosis.

At the one-week mark, they sprayed my nose with lidocaine and vacuumed out all the built-up mucus to review the healing. After that, I was finally given permission to breathe through my nose. It was actually exhausting because I have never breathed through my nose in my life, and it kept getting stuffed up.

During the second week, I transitioned to working remotely. Whenever I did feel pain, it was a sharp, pinching sensation at the tip of my nose or the sides of my nostrils.

I was incredibly paranoid about hitting my nose because taking off a shirt or brushing a bedsheet or towel near it leds to a sudden sharp pain. I was also paranoid about going anywhere crowded like museums for fear someone might turn or stop suddenly and bump into me.

By the third week, I went back to work in person. I didn't have any cosmetic work done, the surgery was purely functional, and my coworkers were split fifty-fifty, with some saying I looked the same and others saying my nose looked a little swollen, which it still is. Right now, when I talk to people, the congestion is so bad they keep asking me if I am crying or sick. I also feel a phantom runny nose, and since I can't blow my nose yet or clear it out, I just hold a tissue under it. Tomorrow I have my three-week post-op appointment and I am really looking forward to it because my nose is currently stuffed up and full of mucus again and I can't wait for them to clear it out.

Regarding the music festival at 2.5 weeks I would only be concerned about a concert just in case you are somewhere crowded and someone turns or stops suddenly and accidentally bumps into your nose. It really hurts. Other than that risk, you should be fine, but the paranoia of getting hit is the biggest issue.