The nose is a prominent facial feature, nestled at the center of the face. It’s easily seen and can greatly influence other facial features, which means it’s a huge contributor to overall facial attractiveness. A disproportioned or disfigured nose, from any angle, can grab anyone’s attention — in a bad way.
Rhinoplasty is a procedure of both surgical and non-surgical principles that is designed to reshape the nose to better balance the face and complement other facial features. The gist of the surgical procedure involves removing, rearranging, and/or reshaping nasal bone and cartilage. Rhinoplasty has reconstructive benefits as well. In fact, it’s usually more of a reconstructive procedure than a cosmetic one, since it’s often performed to improve breathing passages that will decrease episodes of nasal stuffiness and sinus headaches.
How is Rhinoplasty Performed?
Depending on condition of the nose, there can be two ways to perform Rhinoplasty:
Surgical
The surgical approach corrects both congenital and acquired abnormalities of the nose to restore both function and normal appearance through manipulation of the nasal skin, the underlying bone and cartilage, and the mucous membrane lining. Surgery can be classified as an Open Rhinoplasty or a Closed Rhinoplasty. In the open type, the surgeon creates a small, irregular incision to the fleshy part that separates the nostrils (columella), in addition to the typical incisions made for nasal correction. In the closed type, incisions are made within the nose only, leaving the columella untouched.
Closed Rhinoplasty also has decreased potential for the cutting of the nasal tip support, lower post-operative edema, fewer visible scarring, decreased possibility of a damaged nose, reduced possibility of surgical errors, shorter operating room time, faster recovery following surgery, among others.
Non-Surgical
This technique is performed under local anesthesia. With a syringe and a hypodermic needle, the surgeon injects soft-tissue filler under the nasal skin (often in the deep underlying tissues) to correct nasal defects. It’s possible to have a flat nasal bridge, added projection of the nasal tip, camouflage the prominence of a nasal hump, and improve a degree of traumatic injury, to name a few.
Injection of soft-tissue fillers last about an hour. After the procedure, the patient can go home or resume normal activities.
Risks of Rhinoplasty
Rhinoplasty is safe, but complications may still arise. Some include post-operative bleeding, infection, scarring, deformation caused by surgery, breathing difficulties, and adverse reaction to the anesthesia.
Who Can be Considered for Rhinoplasty?
Individuals who have a deformed nose or want their nose corrected. They should also be capable of drawing realistic expectations from the procedure and aware of its limitations. Medical conditions and intake of certain medication/supplements should be disclosed to the doctor before going through surgery.
Facts on Rhinoplasty
Closed Rhinoplasty is the standard in the procedure and gives about the same results as an Open Rhinoplasty; EENTs specialize in Open Rhinoplasty than plastic surgeons.
