PROCEDURE DURATION: 2-3 hours
TYPE OF ANESTHESIA: General
WHAT IS RHINOPLASTY?
The rhinoplasty is the procedure that allows you to completely correct the shape of the nose, including the tip. If there are breathing problems the septum, the bone-cartilage part that separates the nostrils, will also be changed. According to need, they change the shape of the back, for example by eliminating the hump, the nasal bones, bringing them closer if the nose turns out to be too wide, and the tip, when it is too long, down or “bulbous”.
WHO IS SUITABLE TO RHINOPLASTY?
The surgery is recommended for all people who want to solve an aesthetic or functional problem in the nose.
THERE ARE AGE LIMITS TO UNDERGO THIS PROCEDURE?
It is advisable to wait until the age when bone and cartilage structure of the nose completed their development.
PRE-OPERATIVE: WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE SURGERY?
During the first visit, the surgeon will assess the shape and size of the nose, to verify the presence of any aesthetic and/or functional defects and explain the possible modifications in the shape, the profile and the appearance of your nose. These corrections may be displayed through computer processing of digital pictures of your face. The surgeon will also assess your health to rule out the presence of complications (such as high blood pressure, clotting problems or scarring) that could affect the final result. After the examination, the surgeon, agree with you, choose the shape of the nose best suited to the physiognomy and aesthetics of your face. Before the operation, you will receive specific instructions on nutrition pre- and post-operative and on the use of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.
In case there are breathing difficulties due to the presence of a deviation of the nasal septum, you should make an ENT visit.
HOW IS THE SURGERY?
Two approaches can be used in this type of procedure, the closed technique and the open technique.
The closed rhinoplasty is performed through small incisions made inside the nose, through which, with the appropriate tools, and techniques that vary according to how you want to change the nasal pyramid, is modified the component bone and cartilage of the nasal skeleton.
Open rhinoplasty is a variant of closed rhinoplasty and it is executed by incising the skin of the columella at the base of the nose. Cartilages of the tip and the bridge of the nose are then totally exposed. The open rhinoplasty is more complex than the closed ones, but it is more precise because the nasal structures can be modified in view by the surgeon. The rhinoplasty with open technique involves a slightly longer procedure concerning the closed technique and the presence of a small external scar.
IS A MUST TO PUT PADS IN POST-OPERATIVE?
No, it is not mandatory to use buffers. In rhinoplasty with the buffers at the end of the surgery, these are introduced into the nasal cavity to promote hemostasis and to keep in place the fragments of cartilage reshaped. The pads inserted into the nasal cavity immediately after surgery must be removed at a distance of one or two days after surgery. In rhinoplasty without pads they use special substances, such as fibrin glue, which replace the pads from the functional point of view, eliminating the removal operation of the same in the post-operative stage and allowing breathing from the nose since the end of the procedure. The only visible protective dressing consists of a small metal plate placed on the nose and covered by a patch.
WHAT TYPE OF ANESTHESIA IS PRACTICED?
The rhinoplasty is generally performed under general anaesthesia with hospitalization in day-surgery regime. Only in the most complex cases, it may be necessary for a clinic admission for one or two nights. Sometimes modest rhinoplasty can be performed under local anaesthesia with sedation (which means that you will be awake but relaxed and insensitive to pain).
WHAT IS THE NON-SURGICAL RHINOPLASTY?
This term indicates the nose reshaping improving it aesthetically without surgery. This method is used by most plastic surgeons to correct small imperfections, mostly outcome of procedures already performed, avoiding subjecting the patient to a new surgery. In rare cases, very selected, when there are no problems of “dimensions”, but only small flaws of “form” it can replace surgery. It consists in injecting into the subcutaneous tissue of the nose a filler, going to fill the depressed parts, levelling them compared to those exuberant. The concept is opposite to that of surgery: surgery demolishes a hump, in the non-surgical rhinoplasty this is not possible, so it goes to level the hump conducting a filling with the filler at the level of the root or tip of the nose. Indications are the correction of minor cosmetic defects and post-surgical corrections. The advantages of this technique are numerous: the virtually non-existent trauma, the implementation time of just 30 minutes, the possibility of returning immediately to your activities without problems, the significantly lower cost compared to that of surgery. The disadvantages, very significant, is that you can not reduce the effective size of the nose, the back and sort of tip that is most of the time the real problem felt by the candidate procedure.
POST SURGERY: WHAT TO DO AFTER BEING OPERATED?
In the 48 hours following rhinoplasty, you will have to rest with the head raised. From the third day, you can gradually resume your normal life but avoiding strenuous activities. After seven days of surgery the surgeon will remove the plaster and your nose, initially swollen and edematous, take day after day the harmonic form that had been agreed before the operation. Some swelling may persist for several weeks, especially on the nose.