Seems that there is an forum issue at the moment, I "changed" it too, it says that It has been change but it doesn't refresh.
I cleared the cache, reloaded the website ignoring the browser cache (CTRL + SHIFT + R) still the same!
Theymos or Cyros would say something.
No it is not a forum issue.It takes a while for the new avatar to reflect,sometimes it just isn't visible to the you but it doesn't mean it hasn't changed.Like in Op's case,I already see the new avatar on their profile.The closest illogical thing I have done to is to log out and log in again ,works perfectly.
In fact loging out & loggin in and then CTRL+F5 worked.
In this case your way is not illogical.
Avatar changes are related to the sessions. When we log out we kill the session, and then relogin a new session is created and there is our new avatar.