RHINOPLASTY (Nasal Surgery)

You may have considered corrective nasal surgery if your nose is misshapen, disproportionately large or small for your face, or if you have had an injury, which makes breathing difficult.

INTRODUCTION: A rhinoplasty operation may be designed to:

• Improve the general cosmetic appearance of the patient by reducing, recontouring or reshaping the external nose;
• Straighten a previously injured nose, and/or;
• Improve the patient's ability to breathe.

It is important that you understand that no nose is perfectly symmetrical. Every attempt will be made to decrease your side-to-side dissimilarities, but such differences always persist to some degree, even after the most successful operation. There are many irregularities beneath the skin of a nose before and after surgery, but these may become more noticeable after surgery, especially in individuals with very thin skin and underlying fatty layers. It is unnatural for a nose to be exactly in the center of the face, before or after an operation. The two nostrils are never exactly the same shape or size. These irregularities and asymmetries will persist after a corrective operation. These facts are stressed as many patients are not aware of preoperative nasal irregularities and may be more critical of their appearance following surgery than preoperatively.

Many patients have a fear that the nasal change will be so great as to create a subject of discussion among family members and friends. Actually, rarely do the patient's friends and relatives ever remember the shape of the patient's original nose a few weeks following surgery. The patient is also warned that there may be individuals who will not wish to acknowledge that the patient's appearance has improved and may disappoint the patient by making an unrestrained comment such as, "I liked your nose better the way it was before" or, "I didn't see anything wrong with your nose in the first place."

Juris Bunkis, MD, FACS
email:bunkis@ocps.com

Orange County Plastic Surgery
30212 Tomas, Suite 275
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688
Phone: (866) 457-1293
Fax: (949) 888-9724