What is Rhinoplasty?
Nowhere else in plastic surgery is “naturalness” more desirable, necessary and emphasized than in Rhinoplasty. Smooth contours and refined features often occur naturally. But when they don’t, it takes experience, expertise, and artistry to give nature a little help.
Few other plastic surgery operations have the impact and benefit of rhinoplasty. After all, everyone has a nose and it’s right there, in the middle of your face. So when a nose has distracting or incongruous characteristics, it can be the cause of sadness. But the “nose job” is probably the most famous of all plastic surgery. Everyone knows that noses get “done” so you don’t have to live with a nose you don’t like. Even so, lots of people are afraid of the operation, worried that it won’t come out right or everyone will know they did it.
Rhinoplasty Procedure
The rhinoplasty is a surgical procedure performed at Pacific Palisades Plastic Surgery that can enhance the nose’s shape and profile to better fit with the face. The procedure may also correct structural defects that impair breathing or have come about as a result of trauma. If you are interested in reshaping your nose or correcting a deformity, you may be a good candidate for rhinoplasty.
When considering rhinoplasty, one of the most important steps is to schedule a consultation with one of Pacific Palisades Plastic Surgery’s experienced surgeons. During the consultation, you will be able to go over your goals and discuss the particular structures that are of concern to you. Typically, rhinoplasties are effective for changing the nose size for facial balance, adjusting the width of the nostrils, smoothing the nasal profile or the bridge, enhancing an enlarged or bulbous nasal tip, and correcting nasal asymmetry.
A rhinoplasty at Pacific Palisades Plastic Surgery involves the use of intravenous sedation or general anesthesia. Depending on the structure that is being operated on, the procedure may be performed in an “open” or “closed” technique. An open procedure involves an incision at the fleshy bridge between the nostrils, which is called the columella. The closed procedure is performed within the nostrils. For procedures intended to add volume or shape to the nose, a bone or cartilage graft may be necessary.
Results
Natural looking nose surgery results are the norm today. Ninety-something percent of nose results look so natural that no one knows it’s been done. If anything, the result of nasal surgery creates a nose that “fits in” with the other facial characteristics so that the result looks more natural than the nose you were born with. Natural noses, it’s the expert plastic surgeons’ mantra.
Advanced techniques have made Rhinoplasty a very low impact, short recovery operation. Using minimally invasive anesthesia techniques, our patients recover quickly and painlessly. While bruising is possible, it doesn’t always happen and most patients are quite happy with their results in a week. That is not to say that there is no swelling at that time, because there is. But the swelling often mimics the pre-operative appearance, so it’s not conspicuous. Then as the swelling subsides, the beautiful, handsome results kind of sneak up on you so no one notices the change.
Rhinoplasty Recovery
During the recovery period, a splint and nasal packing may be used to support the newly formed shape of the nose. Initial healing is complete within a few weeks, but the final results of the procedure may not yet be apparent; the nose may take as long as a year to take its permanent shape.