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Rhinoplasty For Men
By admin | June 18, 2010
Men’s Nose Jobs
I have been thinking a lot about men’s rhinoplasty or cosmetic plastic surgery of the nose, the last several days. In the last two days we performed nasal cosmetic and reconstructive surgery on two gentlemen.
The first was a middle-aged businessman who had difficulty breathing, but who also was motivated by the fact that he felt his “nose was growing”. The nose, in fact, doesn’t grow, but the tissues within the nose, the loosen, the tip drops and the nose appears more bulbous and longer. The gentleman’s motivation for that cosmetic enhancement was proper. Likewise, the desire to breathe was very reasonable and the patient’s deviated septum and enlarged turbinates were causing blockage such that snoring and poor sleep quality was the result. So it all made sense.
In the case of that middle-aged gentleman it was very important to fully understand the man’s wishes. He expressed on several consultation visits the need to have a natural looking nose that would not look artificial, “done” or drastically different from that which his face had carried for many years. A surgeon needs to listen carefully to these words and understand the mission. Any miscommunication could result in an unsatisfactory result and an unhappy patient. That is not what a conscientious and competent cosmetic facial surgeon wants.
The second nasal case involved a young man who had had two prior nasal surgeries, one for breathing and one for appearance. The former, the nasal septoplasty, was accompanied by reduction of the turbinates. The turbinate reduction was quite satisfactory but the septum was still deviated to one side, meaning he had internal nasal blockage because of the shift of the septum which is the vertical partition that separates the two nasal passages. Those “ revision septoplasty operations are not easy because typically some of the cartilage has been taken out of the septum and there is quite a bit of scar tissue underneath the internal lining of the nose. It does call for considerable experience, expertise and judgment.
The young man’s other wish was to have his nose appear less long. Indeed the nose was too long for his face and, as he ages, the length would have only increased. Apparently the original operating surgeon did not heed the patient’s advice and the result did not match the patient’s wishes.
At this young man’s surgery, very conservative elevation of the nose was done such that it no longer looked too long as if it would touch his lip when he smiled. And indeed, regarding smile, part of the problem was that he had a very strong muscle which, upon smiling, would depress the tip of the nose further. The breathing problem was corrected by straightening the septum and some other relatively routine internal procedures, and we were able to lift the nose off the lip, release the muscle which had been exerting its downward force on the lip and give him a natural looking nose which was not radically different from what he had before. But certainly better and in keeping with his desires.
It is very important for surgeons to listen to patients, to get a good sense of what they want. Also, in my opinion, it’s important have computer imaging available so that the perspective patients can see the predicted results of the procedure that the surgeon deems achievable and reasonable. A meeting of the minds should take place at the computer imaging session such that the patient and the doctor are on the same page based on that computer visualization of the end result of the cosmetic rhinoplasty.
We have used computer imaging in our practice since 1989. It is helpful and important to patients who need the comfort of seeing the projected outcome.
Topics: Cosmetic Plastic Surgery, Cosmetic Surgery, Neck Sculpting, Nose Surgery, Revision Rhinoplasty, Rhinoplasty, Septoplasty | No Comments »