The patient is a 17 year old who felt that her nose was too wide for her face. She thought that all the parts of her nose were too wide and specifically the base of the nose where her nostrils were. She thought the tip and the upper part of the nose were also too wide. The most important goal for the patient was to bring the nasal width into line with the face without overly narrowing any of the parts. She also wanted to retain her ethnicity.
At her consultation, different types of rhinoplasty procedures were discussed including closed and open rhinoplasty. Closed rhinoplasty surgery is an approach to the nose via incisions made inside the nostril and so there are no incisions on the outside. In open rhinoplasty, the internal incisions are connected across the undersurface of the nose, between the nostrils and the skin is lifted to expose the cartilage of the nasal tip. The open technique can be used to treat complicated problems of the tip and to provide more narrowing of the tip than can be achieved with the closed technique. In fact, most “nose jobs” can be performed using the closed approach because they are “reduction rhinoplasties” : the nose is being made smaller. Open techniques can be used to “build the nasal tip up” and in these cases, cartilage from the septum can be used to enlarge and refine the tip. It is good that most patients can be best served with closed nasal surgery because the swelling resolves much more quickly, rhinoplasty recovery time is faster and also is generally a safer technique. Since the patient simply wished to have the width of the tip that matched the width of her face, closed rhinoplasty was chosen to get to her goals. Open rhinoplasty cost is higher than with closed but rhinoplasty surgeons generally recommend the best alternative regardless of rhinoplasty price. The choice of best technique to solve the patients nasal issues are also based on the nasal surgeon’s training and the patients that doctor see in their practice (their experience). That’s why it is a very good idea to look at a surgeon’s rhinoplasty before and after photos.
Facial Plastic Surgery Results
The patient was very happy with the results of her nasal surgery because she felt that her nose matched her face. In addition to her closed rhinoplasty, a Weir Resection was performed to reduce the volume of the sides of the nostrils. This small part of the patient’s nasal surgery involves removal of a lemon wedge shape of skin from the outside of the nostril at its base. This leaves a scar but it is generally pretty difficult to see. Removal of this skin takes some of the “flare” away from the nostril and also makes it look less bulky and so it can better go with the rest of the nose. One interesting aspect is that Weir resections don’t actually decrease the width of the base of the nose; they just make it appear narrower.
