Types of Rhinoplasties
Posted on September 26, 2008 at 1:39 pm
There are different types of rhinoplasties usually referred to as open rhinoplasty or closed rhinoplasty. Traditionally a rhinoplasty was performed through incisions inside the nose. But especially in complicated tip situations it’s very difficult to see the exact contour. And rhinoplasty is really a procedure that recontours the structure of the nose, not removing any skin on the nose. By performing an open Rhinoplasty we actually are looking right at the bones and the cartilage and can form them and sculpt them just as a sculptor would to create a very natural and artistic look. Studies have shown that doing open rhinoplasties reduces complication rates and reoperation rates significantly. So most of my patients will undergo an open Rhinoplasty. At times if all we need to do is reduce a hump then there’s no reason to do an open rhinoplasty and we’ll do a closed rhinoplasty where all the incisions are inside the nose. But remember, in an open Rhinoplasty the only incision on the outside is a very short incision underneath the central cailumela or column to the nose, so there really are no other incisions that can be seen. Recovery time from a rhinoplasty is usually two weeks. Now that’s not two weeks of real down time, but if bones need to be repositioned then I will put a splint on the nose and leave it there for one week. At the end of that time we remove the splint and you can see the new contour for your nose. But when you leave the office I usually put more tape on the nose and leave that for another week. So by the end of two weeks everything is off of the nose, you have a natural appearance, any bruising that you may have had is gone. So actually by the end of two weeks there’s no sign left that you’ve had nasal surgery except for a much refreshed look.