The nose is a dominant feature of the face and its shape deviations are either congenital, or acquired. Changing the nose shape may be followed by its dysfunction (breathing problems). First references to nose surgery are several thousand years old. The gradual improvement of the operating techniques illustrates their complexity and plastic surgeons’ interest in creating the “perfect” nose shape.
The consultation with a plastic surgeon should precede every surgery. You should confide him or her your problems, your motivations and expectations. He or she needs to find out whether the problem is aesthetic, functional, or psychological.
Each rhinoplasty is individual. The ideal age for the procedure is the period after growth arrest in the age of 16 to 18 years, until 30.
The nose surgeries can be divided into two groups. Rhinoplasty of a so-called soft nose is a correction of the nose tip without the intervention into the bone structure. Rhinoplasty of a so-called hard nose is a surgery involving also the nose bones. Sometimes it is necessary to adjust the shape of the nose by bone graft.
Minor surgeries are performed under a local anaesthetic; major surgeries are either combined with sedation/analgesia or performed under a general anaesthetic, which is better for the patient. The surgery is finished by nasal tamponade and a splint is applied to help the nose maintain its new shape. The patient breathes only through the mouth after the surgery. The tamponade is removed on the third day after surgery and the patient has to clean his nostrils several times a day by wet swabs.
The patients stay in hospital till the second day after the surgery. Swelling and oedemas around both eyes are absorbed in 10 to 14 days. The splint is removed on the fourteenth day after the surgery. The patients are asked to avoid strenuous activity for 2 to 3 months to prevent nose harm and its shape damage. The nose tissues need one year to stabilise. This time can vary and the final result depends on the patient, whether he or she keeps the advice of the surgeon and cooperates with him or her.