May 2018

Why Rhinoplasty? Part 2: Medical Reasons

If you joined us last time, we had a look at the top aesthetic reasons for choosing rhinoplasty as a plastic surgery. This time we pick up with the second reason that the procedure is chosen, medical purposes. Here we overview some of the most important ways that rhinoplasty can treat serious medical conditions.

 

 

Difficulty Breathing

Some surgeries estimate that more than 80% of people suffer from some kind of nasal-related difficulty breathing (1). For obvious reasons, your doctor may recommend a rhinoplasty to prevent further complications. Those nose plays a specific role in allowing you to breathe normally, so thankfully there are many options that rhinoplasty can provide in this respect.

A common cause of this is a deviated septum, simply an irregular middle part of the nose. This may ‘shape’ the way you breathe and affect the amount of air that can be taken in by the nose. Generally, if you have a deviated septum, it is too narrow and must be widened. This can be achieved by straightening and shaping the septum to allow an even passage of air through the nostrils.

Another common issue is nasal polyps or deformity of the nostrils. Polyps (small spots or boils) that obstruct the nostrils can be removed, and nostrils that are too narrow can be enlarged in these cases.

 

Broken Nose in an Accident

An active lifestyle is a healthy lifestyle – although sometimes a bit too much activity can hold you back! A broken nose can happen to anybody, but with a nation that equates health with exercise accidents like this are not a rarity. In serious cases a cosmetic procedure may indeed be necessary to restore the original appearance of the nose. In this case the surgeon often restores the bones to their original position and sets them to heal. It is not uncommon for patients to ask for further changes whilst the opportunity is there (2).

 

 

Cleft Deformity

A cleft deformity from birth may affect many aspects of a patient’s life. In terms of self-esteem, people with these deformities often feel they are unattractive. Secondly, a cleft deformity can have impacts of the medical health of the patient, in terms of breathing and nutrition (3) if it is more serious. Cleft deformities happen to both nose and lip, and both can be corrected through cosmetic surgery. Specific techniques are needed to solve this, and it is commonly acknowledged that a cleft nose correction can be challenging for a surgeon (4). Thankfully, many of these procedures are successful through the open rhinoplasty technique that exposes more of the structure of the nose for operation. The list doesn’t end there! These 5 are just a small selection of some of the key reasons for choosing medical rhinoplasty. We hope this two-part list has been useful in giving you a bigger picture of the reasons why this surgery is so popular, and constantly in development.

 

Sources:

1 https://www.westlakedermatology.com/blog/common-reasons-for-rhinoplasty/

2 http://www.entcenterutah.com/blog/2011/10/11/3-reasons-to-get-a-nose-job/

3 https://salamehplasticsurgery.com/4-common-reasons-people-rhinoplasty-procedures-performed/

4 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4606687/