Revision Rhinoplasty Under Way
The last time The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) counted the total number of nose jobs, 243,000 were done in 2012.
But uncounted and not revealed to the public were the estimated number of revision nose jobs which were somewhere between 48,600 and 60,750 unhappy patients with first (and in some cases, second and third!) nose jobs behind them.
(Read more about revision rhinoplasty.)
Why so many revisions? Primarily, the nose is the key feature of your face, so changing it can strongly affect your overall appearance.
(Look at some nose job before and after pictures.)
Technically, the nose is a highly intricate but delicate 3-D structure. A nose surgeon must think three or four moves ahead because one change in one part of the nose usually affects other parts and not always for the best.
In some cases, Mother Nature throws a curve ball with imperfect healing.
Thus, many nose jobs are muffed, leaving people still unhappy with the nose shape or the nose comes out looking worse. So patients ask for a re-do, often at the hands of a more experienced nose surgeon.
A revision surgeon is happy to oblige although the task is now harder because the nose has scar tissue inside, nasal anatomy is often missing so the landscape looks different from a “virgin” nose.
Another reason for rhinoplasty revision is for function; the nose’s chief job is passing healthy amounts of air on to the lungs. If the first surgeon did not make sure the breathing channels were blockage free, a second procedure can.
(More about functional nose surgery.)
Many mistakenly think they have chronic sinus problems. But sinus woes are actually pretty rare.
(Learn more about recognizing a real sinus infection.)
A nasal blockage, perhaps from a deviated septum, traps mucous and allows germs to multiply, causing the sinus-like symptoms.
Did you ever have an untreated broken nose? If no medical help was obtained, a fractured nose starts to heal in the broken position within ten days. That leaves nasal bones misaligned, a situation that can lead to limited breathing and, possibly, the germ and sinus-like congestion and pain in the upper nose.
If you want a revision rhinoplasty, look for a nose surgeon (technically, a board-certified otolaryngologist) who has does the procedure weekly for at least a decade.