At Profiles, we discuss your postoperative care and routine in great depth prior to your surgery in order to address all your concerns. A couple of relevant points for you are that postoperatively you will find that for a dew days your nose is swollen and congested. After that initial period, we try to minimize the possibility of trauma to your newly operated nose or bleeding from your nose.

As such, we tell our patients to avoid sniffing after surgery and to avoid blowing your nose if possible. This generally will not relieve the sensation of blockage - it will only aggravate it because the suction created on the inside will cause more swelling. Not only will this aggravate the swelling, but also it may cause infection, bleeding, or the accumulation of scar tissue inside the nose.

We obviously wouldn’t want you to have a nose bleed while you’re in the water. Can you imagine the sharks?

If a turbinate resection is part of your nasal procedure, bleeding can occur from this area for up to six weeks after your surgery. Therefore, your exercise regimen needs to be curtailed at least to some extent for the first few weeks following surgery. Upper body exercise is especially prohibited, as it is more likely to cause turbinate bleeding. No strenuous athletic activity for one month, including swimming, jogging, aerobics, etc. And as for your specific concern, we recommend no diving to our patients for two months.

Recently, another celebrity underwent rhinoplasty, reportedly for a deviated septum and emerged a few weeks later to an onslaught of questions and blogs questioning why she had messed with the characteristic that some believe made her special.

Reportedly some of her youngest fans could no longer recognize her. And it seems in Hollywood, where looks make or break careers, while almost everyone has had some plastic surgery, we are to believe that it is unheard of for an A-list star to own up to artificial enhancements. All of this brings back memories of Ms. Grey, the “Dirty Dancing” star whose rhinoplasty altered her face so much that she no longer was able to get acting jobs.

We at Profiles are not here to judge the results of her surgery, nor do we know the reasoning that went into her decision. What we do want to do is use this forum to better educate patients regarding the need to address your motivations for surgery and to explore the aesthetic results of surgery with your plastic surgeon before surgery.

The first point is motivation. Cosmetic facial plastic surgery should only be considered and done when patients want to do it for themselves. When the motivation is something like needing to be liked by others, pleasing a loved one or family member or trying to fix something else that is wrong with their lives, we believe the emotional consequences can make the whole recovery process much more difficult. So you want to make sure that you are the one who wants surgery, not your boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/ wife, or parent.

The next point is that rhinoplasty, probably more than any other procedure, can make you look different, which is a dual edged sword. When it is done correctly with a clear understanding of the patient’s goals, rhinoplasty is probably one of the most satisfying procedures for both patient and surgeon alike. On the other hand, a surgeon can be technically perfect, but if the end goal of what he achieves or seeks to achieve is not aesthetically pleasing, surgery will be considered a failure.

Along these lines we firmly believe that it is critical to understand, that it is neither possible nor desirable to impose the same preconceived “ideal” nose on every patient. And so, during our preoperative evaluations, we will listen extensively to you, as you voice your concerns not only with respect to what you want changed but also any identity-bound characteristics you want to have left in place. Rhinoplasty should not neutralize your face by robbing it of the individual characteristics or special familial characteristics that are unique to you. While some patients may wish to be rid of the “family nose”, you should still retain your unique individuality through the surgical process. In other words, exploration of your aesthetic is essential in planning your individualized surgery. SO make sure all these issues are discussed before surgery.

It is hard to answer that question without examining you. But, there is usually no cause for serious concern.

If your nose was crooked before, it may remain slightly crooked after. Making a crooked nose completely straight is one of the hardest things to do in Rhinoplasty. So, while our goal is perfection, we sometimes have to be satisfied with ‘just almost’. In most cases, the appearance is due to asymmetric swelling more on one side than the other. This will subside and improve with time, but only time will tell the degree of improvement.

Our best advice is to ask your surgeon because he or she is most familiar with your case and can explain what was done during your surgery and what you can expect in the future. Sometimes, further interventions will be recommended such as massage, steroid injection, or minor revisions down the road that can lead to further improvements.

Nasal Allergies, whether seasonal or year-round, generally are not a factor in rhinoplasty. If you experience nasal allergy symptoms, you should be thoroughly evaluated to see if there are any other factors that may exacerbate your breathing problems- such as a deviated septum or enlarged turbinates. If these problems are also present they should be addressed during your rhinoplasty.

Otherwise we find that in general patients have a period of reprieve from their allergy symptoms following surgery. We do counsel our patients not to blow their nose for about 2 weeks after surgery and also to keep your mouth open if you have to sneeze. Overall, there should be no reason why your allergies should affect your surgery with us.

A good choice for a Rhinoplasty Surgeon, at the very minimum, should be appropriately credentialed in the specialty of Facial Plastic Surgery or General Plastic Surgery. That means that the surgeon has passed a minimum standard involving a record of training and a rigorous oral and written examination process. But, once that standard is met, there is unfortunately noone watching over the surgeon’s shoulder while he operates. Read more

Like any surgery, Rhinoplasty is a little bit different for everybody. That’s why it is useful, and we encourage you, to talk to others who’ve had the procedure to get a sense of their experience. There are some common themes though, as far as recovery goes.

Whatever technique is used (see our Blog on Open vs. Closed Rhinoplasty), you can expect to have some dull aching and headache afterwards for a short time. In the absence of an infection or other problem, severe pain is very uncommon. Most of our patients may take some pain medication for the first day or two after surgery and then are usually feeling well enough to switch to Tylenol or other non-narcotic pain medication.

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Thanks for your interest in our new blog page. You may know that we have been writing about rhinoplasty for a while on our main page www.beverlyhillsprofiles.com, but we’re excited to now have this page as a dedicated rhinoplasty education site. Our mission is to provide you as much information as possible about our favorite procedure. Some of you will be new to rhinoplasty and gathering information before you decide on surgery. Others will be in the unfortunate position of having had an unhappy experience with a previous rhinoplasty.

Many of you are all too familiar with how technically challenging this procedure is. But, despite what your previous experience has been, we want you to know that a positive change and a happy outcome can be had by almost everyone considering rhinoplasty or revision rhinoplasty. 

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