A devastated woman says she has been left unable to breathe properly and battling painful infections after undergoing three “botched” nose jobs.
Alina Adiklhanyan, 29, first went under the knife in 2013 in a bid to remove a small bump on the bridge of her nose.
Ten years on and Alina claims she can’t breathe because her nostrils have caved in and she develops painful infections every month.
“The only thing that could be worse than this is having no nose at all,” Alina, from Yerevan, Armenia, told Need to Know.
“When I decided to undergo my first nose surgery, I had no breathing problems.
“It was purely an aesthetic issue.
“I had a small bone on the bridge of my nose that I didn’t find beautiful and wanted to remove to achieve a smoother shape.
“I always considered nose surgery something normal.
“The breathing issues only began after my first operation.
“About three years after the first surgery, I started developing breathing problems.
“The shape of my nose wasn’t great either, but I would never have undergone another operation just for aesthetic reasons.
“I felt very unwell.
“I had constant difficulty breathing, headaches, and every time I inhaled, my nostrils collapsed completely.
“It became impossible to live that way.”
In 2022, Alina opted for a second operation, hoping to correct the breathing issues.
That was followed by a third revision surgery in July 2023, where surgeons used cartilage from her septum and ears in a final attempt to rebuild her nose’s structure.
But she claims each surgery only made things worse.
Alina said: “During my second surgery, they made major aesthetic changes but didn’t correct my breathing problem.
“My nostrils continued to collapse while breathing.
“It was a very difficult and hopeless time for me.
“When I had my third operation, they were supposed to fix the internal structure so that my nostrils wouldn’t collapse while breathing.
“They took cartilage from my ears and nasal septum and implanted it inside my nose.
“Just days after, it became clear something was wrong.
“My nostrils were uneven, and they collapsed even more than before.
“Soon after, infections and inflammation began.
“I can’t breathe through my nose.
“For a short period, I could breathe slightly through my right nostril, but even that stopped.”
Alina says she now lives in constant discomfort and suffers from chronic infections that cause severe pain and pus discharge.
She said: “For two years, I’ve had ongoing infections and pus discharge both from the outer surface and inside of my nose.
“My condition is severe, especially during the past three years.
“Besides not being able to breathe through my nose, the pain during the infections is unbearable.
“Each episode lasts around a month, until the pus drains out.
“i get unbearable headaches, the pain radiates from my nose and I get a fever that lasts until the pus drains out of my nose.
“It affects my confidence.
“Despite the emotional toll, I try to stay calm and believe that everything will end positively and that my problems will be fixed.”
Alina had all three operations in Armenia.
The first set her back £800, the second was £1,000 and the third cost £600.
She’s now searching in the US and Turkey for a surgeon who can finally fix her breathing,
Alina added: “I’m looking for a qualified specialist who can restore my breathing and stop the chronic infections.
“I don’t care which country that doctor is in.
“I’ve visited about 60 doctors in Armenia, but most refused to operate.
“I can’t continue living like this for much longer.
“It can’t become a way of life for me.”
