Considering Cosmetic Changes Of Your Nose? Learn About Different Types Of Rhynoplasty

Rarely will you find people who are satisfied about their noses. Then there are people, who are born with nose defects causing constricted breathing troubles life long or the people who have damaged their noses in accidents. Rhinoplasty as a branch of plastic surgery was developed as a corrective surgery to help people get rid of all these flaws---either created naturally or artificially in the latter course of life.

However, in recent years, rhynoplasty has earned more popularity as a cosmetic procedure; that is to say, rhynoplasty is increasingly being viewed as the means for bringing aesthetic changes in the face.

The procedure

Despite its popularity, rhynoplasty remains one of the most complicated branches of cosmetic surgery. However, despite being a difficult operation, this nose reshaping surgery is performed on hundreds of thousands of patients each year. The difficulty lies in the fact that the plastic surgeon has to perform the entire surgery mainly by feeling it by their hands.

Irrespective of the objective of the surgery---reduction or enhancement in the nose size, hiding the scars or improvement of the breathing process--- rhinoplasty is generally performed in a doctor's clinic on an outpatient basis. The choice between the applications of local or general anesthesia depends on the patient's over all health. The rhinoplasty techniques can be divided into two main groups: closed and open.

Closed rhinoplasty

This technique is adopted where minor reshaping is required. In these cases, most surgeons and prefer to make incisions within the nose and this incision is made to push the surgical instruments to separate the skin of the nose from the bone and cartilage. After bone and cartilage are removed, they are then reshaped and rearranged to give the nose the desired shape. When the task of reshaping is over, the nose tissues are spread over the newly shaped structures. In the end the incisions are closed.

Open rhinoplasty

This technique is adopted at the time when a major nose reshaping is required. In this case, it is not convenient to make incisions inside the nose. There is a vertical strip of skin called columella that separates the nostrils. When a major reshaping is required, the incisions are made over this area of the nose. This is comparatively more complex procedure and referred to as "open" rhinoplasty.

After the incisions are closed, some puffy materials are pushed inside the nose along the nasal air passages as padding to support the renewed structure. In most of the cases, an external splint is applied additionally to assist the nose acquire its new shape. This splint which the patient has to carry over his nose for at least six to eight days also helps in the healing process.