Courtney Stodden went under the knife for her second nose job … and she tells TMZ this time it was more than a cosmetic procedure.

Here’s the deal … Courtney posted a red-hot bikini thirst trap on Wednesday to highlight her surgery and ongoing recovery.

Courtney tells us … she was not happy with her first nose job — and she could not breathe as well as she expected afterward … but that all changed after this operation.

Shouting out her surgeon — Dr. Gary Motykie — CS says she can breathe easier thanks to the breathing correction that accompanied the rhinoplasty and some facial fat grafting.

All in, she dropped about $20K on the new sniffer … which she says is quite reasonable given Hollywood prices.

Courtney also noted her recovery has been the easiest of all her procedures … so that’s also a sigh of relief (pun intended).

Cheers, Courtney! Smell ya later.