Rhinoplasty

"A great nose indicates a great man-Genial.courteous,intellectual,virile, courageous."—Cyrano De Bergerac

The nose is most prominent part of one’s face. A rhinoplasty can repair deformities of the skin, lining, bone or any part of the nose. The procedure can be carried out to shorten excessively long noses, straighten noses with a drooping tip, smoothen bumps on the nose, lengthen too short a nose, level out depressed noses, trim down the lumpy ones. It can correct deformities due to injuries or previous surgeries. It is also performed when one develops breathing difficulty following a previous nose job. Sometimes a septoplasty or correction of a deviated septum may have to be done along with a rhinoplasty for optimum results.

The nose is always associated with one's character.A man with a large nose is thought to be sinister, small nose weak, red nosed an alcoholic and a crooked nose a criminal or psychopathic behaviour'.¹

One must convey information regarding the desired size, angulation and shape of the nose to the aesthetic surgeon and he will decide on the extent of surgery required. His judgement will also be based on his assessment of the patient’s skin character, the patient's overall facial features, his profile and so on. The doctor may take photographs of the straight as well as the profile view of the patient to take measurements and also for future reference.

A rhinoplasty symbolizes the art and practice of plastic surgery-attention to the psychosocial status of the patient, modification of form and improvement of naso-respiratory function.²

Basic blood tests for hemoglobin, sugar and an ECG for an older patient may be the investigations required before the operation. The patient would be instructed by the doctor to stop medicines such as aspirin or other blood thinners before the operation.

The operation is sometimes done under local anesthesia, although many surgeons prefer to have the patient sleeping with a general anesthetic. A six- hour starvation is required before the operation. The patient is anesthetized before the surgery commences.