Rhinoplasty
By Stephanie Miles | Published on August 13, 2009 | 0 Comments
Rhinoplasty is a cosmetic surgery used to improve the look of a person’s face by adjusting the shape and proportion of his nose.
As the most common type of facial plastic surgery in the United States, thousands of rhinoplasty operations are performed in operating rooms across the country each day with the goal of reshaping the noses of image-conscious patients hoping for a more refined look.
Of course, not every rhinoplasty procedure — also known as a nose job — is performed with a solely cosmetic purpose in mind. For thousands of patients suffering from deviated septums, rhinoplasty may be the last resort in a quest to fix a breathing abnormality caused by injury or genetics.
Whether the reason is cosmetic or medical, an increasing number of patients are choosing to undergo rhinoplasty every year, thanks largely to recent advances in technology that have made the procedure quicker, safer, and more painless than ever before.
What is rhinoplasty?
Rhinoplasty is a cosmetic surgery used to improve the look of a person’s face by adjusting the shape and proportion of his or her nose. Some of the multitude of adjustments a facial plastic surgeon can make during the procedure include changing the nose’s size, width, and position of the nostril, as well as decreasing visible humps, bumps, and depressions, and reshaping the nasal tip. Increasingly, surgeons are able to use new technology to recreate the look of a celebrity’s nose for patients with the desire to look more like their favorite star.
How’s this done? Carefully. Because a surgeon’s technique must be so refined to successfully complete a rhinoplasty to the highest standards, plastic surgeons who perform the surgery are often known as the artists of their field.
To perform an effective rhinoplasty, surgeons must work carefully to make a small incision either across the columella, the skin that separates the nostrils, or inside a patient’s nose—known as a “closed rhinoplasty.” Increasingly, facial plastic surgeons are choosing to go with the “closed rhinoplasty” technique as a way of minimizing potential scarring for their patients, although a number of other rhinoplasty techniques exist as well.
Once the incision has been made, a licensed surgeon will use tools to adjust the cartilage and bone inside a patient’s nose before stitching the open skin back in place and finishing the surgery. This generally takes 1 to 3 hours to complete, although some smaller cases can be completed in as little as 15 minutes.
Although rhinoplasty is most commonly performed for cosmetic purposes, it should also be noted that it can be done to fix breathing problems—such as when a patient has a deviated septum—or to correct certain birth defects that effect the nose.
Who are the best candidates for rhinoplasty?
Nearly anyone who is unhappy with the look of their nose can be considered as a candidate for rhinoplasty. Optimally, patients should be old enough to ensure that their nasal bone has matured and that the shape of their nose has stabilized, which is generally ages 14 to 15 for girls and slightly older for most boys. They should also be in excellent mental and physical health.
In addition, it is important that all candidates for rhinoplasty have reasonable expectations as to the outcome of the surgery. Because surgery outcomes can vary so much from patient to patient, candidates should feel comfortable discussing their cosmetic goals with their surgeon prior to going into the surgery for the best chances of a positive outcome.
Patients who are not considered good candidates for rhinoplasty include those who are using the surgery as a way to improve their career or relationship, and anyone who is unusually obsessed with the look of their nose, since many could be setting themselves up for disappointment should the outcome of the procedure not meet their expectations.
Tags: artists, breathing, bumps, celebrity, Common, cosmetic, depressions, deviated septums, genetics, humps, inage-conscious, incision, injury, matured, nasal tip, nose ob, noses, patients, plastic surgeon, plastic surgery, proportion, refined, reshaping, rhinoplasty, side effects, stabalized, swelling, technology
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