What Exactly is Rhinoplasty Surgery?
Rhinoplasty surgery is a cosmetic procedure that is designed to restructure the shape and aesthetic appearance of the nose. It is also used to correct certain internal congenital defects and abnormalities associated with the nose. There are two kinds of rhinoplasty - closed and open rhinoplasty, which can be carried out either by an ear, nose and throat specialist, a jaw, face and neck specialist or a plastic surgeon. Nose tip reduction surgery or Tip-Plasty, would normally be carried out by a cosmetic surgeon, as it is essentially a cosmetic procedure. Tip-plasty focuses on a range of techniques that are used to reduce a bulbous nasal tip or other malformed nasal tip condition. Before and after shots of tip-plasty procedures do show incredible changes in nose tips from this kind of surgery. The surgery cuts and reshapes the cartillage of the nose tip to reduce its bulbous appearance and create better definition, and a smoother more streamlined nasal tip.
How the procedure works
There are several techniques that the surgeon can call upon for reduction of a bulbous nose tip. One such technique is known as the suture technique in which the surgeon uses sutures to reposition and fuse together the cartilages in the tip of the nose so that they are closer together and appear less bulbous. A cephalic trim removes part of the nose tip leading to a straighter, less bulbous looking nose. The newly repositioned cartilage is all held in place by sutures allowing the skin to heal around the newly reduced nasal tip.
Recovery and What to Expect After Surgery
Immediately after surgery the surgeon will fit splints on the nose to keep the newly created nose tip in place so that it can heal properly. The splints are placed both internally and externally. The internal ones are removed first, on the third and fifth days after surgery, then the external ones get removed approximately two weeks after surgery. Patients will often have to endure dry, flaky skin on the tip of the nose after surgery. This will clear up usually of its own accord after a few weeks or if not antibiotic cream can be prescribed. Improvements in the appearance of the nose tip can take weeks, even months to become fully apparent. Patients sometimes even report seeing improvements up to a year after surgery. It takes about to two weeks to return to normal activities after the operation but strenuous exercise or sport should be avoided for anything up to two or three months after the initial procedure. The surgeon will give the patient an aftercare program to follow and it is strongly advised that he/she closely follow the surgeon's aftercare guidelines.
Possible risks of the procedure
There are risks to any kind of surgical procedure and this is also true of nasal reduction. The risks that are also true of any surgery are things like adverse reaction to general anaesthetic, blood clots, blood loss and infection. Thankfully due to modern medical techniques these are all very rare potential complications and should not be a problem. There are however other possible risks that are specific to rhinoplasty. These include numbness around the nasal area and reduced sense of smell, nosebleeds, scarring, swelling, and possible permanent nerve damage. The scarring and the swelling are temporary, scarring fades away after a few months and the swelling starts to go after two to three weeks. Rhinoplasty surgery can be particularly painful compared to other cosmetic procedures immediately after surgery for a few days because it does involve the quite complex alteration and manipulation of delicate nasal bones and cartilage, but it is only temporary and will clear up after a couple of weeks. Hopefully you are now more aware of what a nose tip reduction rhinoplasty is and what is involved in the procedure
