Checking the Nose
One of the things your rhinoplasty surgeon looks for in patients is the balance and symmetry of noses during the first cosmetic surgery consultation.
If you’ve been active in sports and suffered a broken nose, the surgeon must look carefully because some fractured noses heal in the broken position. Those crooked noses are very obvious, even to the casual onlooker.
If a nose is slightly bent, crooked or twisted on the outside, it probably is twisted inside, too. That would lead to a discussion and possible treatment of breathing blocks.
Why does a Beverly Hills Rhinoplasty surgeon carefully check the first-time nose job patients for nasal crookedness? Unless proper care is taken, a rhinoplasty could be even more crooked after surgery.
The best path is making sure an assessment of the inside of the nose is done correctly. The rhinoplasty surgeon carefully looks inside each nostril to check for a deviated septum which can hinder breathing.
(The septum is that paper-thin, cartilage wall separating the nostrils. Plus, it’s delicate.)
A deviated septum is very common; some people are born with them while other common causes include:
- Auto wrecks
- Football
- Rugby
- Boxing
- Fistfights
While looking up in the nose, surgeons also check nasal structures farther up in the nose that can block breathing. Known as the turbinates, these blood-rich structures warm and filter air before passing it on to the lungs.
And because of that rich blood supply, the turbinates respond to allergies and other environmental insults by swelling, again blocking breathing. Give-away signs include snoring, lousy sleep, headaches and constant sinus woe.
However, turbinate reduction surgery can be done during the rhinoplasty.
Catch-22: the surgeon must have extra training in performing cosmetic nose jobs and reconstructive nasal surgery. Then, a crooked nose is very likely to be A-OK on all fronts. It will not only look good, it will do its main job — breathing.
But, alas, there’s Catch-22.5. No surgeon can be 100 percent sure if the cartilage is agreeable to straightening.
However, given the training we mentioned above, in a very high percentage of cases, things are improved so much the patient is satisfied with the cosmetic appearance of the nose and happy with the improved air flow.
The post A Beverly Hills Rhinoplasty & Crooked Noses appeared first on Robert Kotler M.D..
