What Is Rhinoplasty?
Rhinoplasty surgery is a term used to describe any kind of change to the external appearance of the nose. If done by a highly-skilled, well-trained plastic surgeon, rhinoplasties can be an exciting and life-changing experience, especially for patients who are able to see their true physical appearance after having this procedure done.
What changes can I make to my nose?
The term "rhinoplasty" refers to all types of nasal plastic surgery, which can be performed on the nose, cheeks, lips, chin, jaw angle, or even the ears. The surgeon's goal in performing any type of nasal plastic surgery is to make the patient feel more comfortable and confident about his or her appearance. There are many reasons why nasal plastic surgeons perform these procedures, including boosting self-esteem, improving the appearance of a smile, correcting the size and shape of an obvious nose flaw, and enhancing a patient's nasal airway health.
Rhinoplasty Surgeries can be divided into two categories - corrective and non-corrective. Non-corrective rhinoplasties (i.e. non-conventional rhinoplasties) are typically performed to improve the overall appearance of a patient s nasal bridge or nasal tip. corrective rhinoplasties change the size, shape, and color of an individual nose.
Common rhinoplasties include hydraconotomy, which is the removal of a hump on the bridge of the nose, known as a hydraconulus. Hydraconotomy requires an incision of the septum behind the sebaceous glands (oil glands). An incision inside the nose will also help loosen the cartilage that is hanging. The tip of the nose may also need to be touched up in areas where excess skin has been removed. Recovery from a septoplasty usually takes one to three months. Scarring will be visible around the incision area but will fade after a few weeks of healing.
Recovery from a rhinoplasty procedure usually requires minimal disruption of normal activities, although a brief time away from strenuous activity is recommended. This is due to the amount of swelling that often occurs after a rhinoplasty procedure. Swelling of the face or nose can be avoided by wearing appropriate clothing, including hats and sunglasses. It is also important to keep the area clean and dry after the procedure to minimize swelling. Most patients return to normal activities in a week or two but may require one to two weeks of light physical activity to get back into good shape.
Rhinoplasties are used to correct numerous facial conditions, such as wide, bulbous, wrinkled, overfilled, hooked, droopy, downturned, or excessively long noses. They are also used to shorten the nose and soften the tip, shorten the chin, shorten the upper lip, add a projection to the nose, decrease tip slouching, add width to the nose, repair nasal tip collapse, correct rollers, straighten the eyebrows, repair jowl loss, correct squinting, and double chins, and lengthen the eyelashes. A full rhinoplastic must meet all of the criteria for preoperative imaging studies, which must confirm that it meets all of the preoperative surgical requirements, including meeting the expectations of the patient.
What is Rhinoplasty in layman's terms, is simply the modification of one or more nose characteristics for reasons other than cosmetic or functional. For example, a patient may have a large bulbous nasal bridge but want to deepen and slim it. Another person may have a low protruding nose tip but want to give it a longer length.
Full or closed rhinoplasty typically takes between one to three hours and requires approximately four visits to the office. The first visit usually involves an overview of the condition, x-rays, a consultation with the surgeon to discuss the procedure, and a brief recovery time. Full recovery time will depend on many factors such as the length of time the nose was misshaped, any medical conditions such as chronic inflammation, the amount of skin removed from the bridge, any complications from surgery, any medications being taken, and the patient's tolerance for anesthesia. Open rhinoplasty is performed under general anesthesia and usually takes shorter than three hours. Recovery time is similar to that of closed rhinoplasty.
