I Got a Nose Job During the Pandemic — Here's What It Was Like

Right now, the business of plastic surgery is booming, with 49 percent of Americans who have never gone under the knife now considering a multitude of procedures, according to a recent survey by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Here, Gia Ching, a marketing manager at Cassileth Plastic Surgery living in Los Angeles, explains, in her own words, why she decided to get rhinoplasty amid the coronavirus pandemic.

I have not liked my nose since high school, but I could never put my finger on why. I never knew what bothered me about it. It wasn't until recently, with everything going digital in this shelter-in-place period, that I started to notice my profile. It was just disproportionate. With my job, I'm hosting so many Zoom meetings not only with my internal team but also external clients and the co-op, and it really magnified how I already felt about my nose.

It's a different perspective when you look at yourself in the mirror a few times a day than when you're seeing yourself in a chat room with a bunch of people all day. I'm in marketing — and at a plastic surgery practice, too — so I've always felt that looks matter, but before stay-home orders, you could handle things with a simple phone call. Now, the etiquette is to do it over video, even if it may not be necessary. And so it's really important to me that I feel confident when I represent the company.

I got rhinoplasty surgery at the beginning of June, when elective procedures were opening up again in Beverly Hills. I met with Dr. Catherine Chang, and she explained that my nose was too tall for my other facial features.

When she said that, everything came into perspective as to why I didn't like my nose. It didn't match my eyes. It didn't match my lip, my chin. We discussed that she would just make a subtle change — just bring down the bridge a bit; lift the tip slightly.

The timing also couldn't have been more perfect. There are so many pluses with getting to recover while staying home. My job was keeping me remote, so the biggest one for me was being able to take it easy and recover at my own pace. I live five miles from the office, but pre-COVID, it would take an hour in LA traffic to drive there. Not having to make the two-hour drive every day has been huge.

And the face masks. I also got buccal fat removal, so just being able to go get a smoothie and not have to worry about looking like a chipmunk is such a perk. Immediately after the surgery when I had black eyes, I did ease off the video conferencing for the week while I was recovering. But it was a big blessing to just be in the comfort of my home with raccoon eyes and not have to worry about the pressure of having to see people and putting on tons of concealer.

I've been recovering for the last month and a half, and I feel great. I love my profile — it's so cute. For me, it was just about subtle refinements; I didn't want to change the way I looked, but I wanted to refine my nose. The tweak was small, but I can't tell you enough: to me, it made the world of difference.