What is functional septorhinoplasty?

Hello Eli85,Thanks for your question.Functional septorhinoplasty is performed to improve airway patency and airflow. Some patients have deviation of their septum and/or inferior turbinate hypertrophy.  Deviation of the septum changes laminar airflow into disrupted airflow, giving a sensation of blockage in one or both nostrils.  Inferior turbinate hypertrophy means that small airwarming and cleaning structures in the nose enlarge in response to environmental exposures, resulting in blockade at the interior nasal valve or collapse at the internal nasal valve.Septoplasty and inferior turbinate reduction/outfracture open up the airways.Insurance will often pay for both procedures, especially if a patient has failed conservative medical management of their nasal obstruction.I hope this was helpful.Dr. Shah

Thank you for your question.  Functional work on the nose is aimed at improving inspiration or breathing.  Septorhinoplasty is a term referring to surgery on both the septum (the wall between the left and right sides of the nose) and outer structure of the nose (nasal bones, high septum, upper and lower cartilages.  The term functional is used to differentiate it from cosmetic rhinoplasty which is aimed at improving the appearance of the nose.  Generally insurance covers functional work.  Cosmetic work is paid out of pocket.  It is not uncommon to combine functional an cosmetic work into the same procedure where the patient pays for the cosmetic work and insurance is billed for the functional work.

Any time you hear the word "functional" in rhinoplasty surgery, it deals with improving the ability to breathe.  There are several components that allow for improvement, including septal deviation, bone spurs, large turbinates, decreased internal angles, etc.  I recommend consulting with a Board-Certified plastic surgeon who will accurately examine you and develop an individual plan that is tailored to your needs.

Functional surgery emphasizes establishing proper nasal airflow and improving a patient's breathing. Surgically the goals often involve optimizing the external and internal nasal valves. Depending on a patient's exam, such surgery may require spreader grafts, alar batten grafts, lower lateral cartilage repositioning, caudal septum repositioning and various suture techniques, in addition to the standard septoplasty and inferior turbinate reduction. These maneuvers can be performed at the same time as making cosmetic alterations to the nose. Hope this helps!

Septorhinoplasty refers to surgery which changes the form of the nose.  Although cosmetic improvement is frequently the goal, in some cases functional improvement is the objective.  For some patients, simply correcting the septum and turbinates inside the nose is not enough to adequately improve nasal airflow.  In these cases, there is some problem related to the external nose, usually in the areas called the nasal valves, creating some narrowing which obstructs airflow.  Typically "functional rhinoplasty" refers to rhinoplasty with the main goal of improving airflow.  However, cosmetic improvement may be performed during the same operation.  In my practice, we use the term, "hybrid rhinoplasty", to describe such cases. The link below is to a video I made describing my approach to the nasal valves, the main aspect of functional rhinoplasty.

A functional septorhinoplasty or functional rhinoplasty involves surgery that improves how the nose works when you breathe. That means that there is component of the nose structurally that is causing obstruction. This could be from your septum (the piece of cartilage in the middle of your nose) or from other parts of the nose that have collapsed.These components, from birth or after trauma/infection, obstruct airflow through the nose.Functional parts of a septoplasty or rhinoplasty are usually covered by insurance. Cosmetic portions are not. Sometimes, structural aspects of the nose (crookedness, deviated septum) produce cosmetic issues but also cause obstruction.I always counsel my patients regarding these issues because they are often related. Hope this helps.

Functional septorhinoplasty is distinguished from aesthetic or cosmetic septorhinoplasty because its main goal is to improve the breathing, to deal with nasal blockage. It’s different from septoplasty.Septoplasty is just to do with straightening the septum, but some noses that are blocked have not just a twisted septum, but the bones are twisted as well and therefore, septorhinoplasty treats the twist in the septum for blockage and also straightens the nose for blockage. Your surgeon should be able to perform a functional septorhinoplasty whilst preserving or improving the aesthetics of the nose as well.

Hi Eli,Functional septorhinoplasty is a term used to describe a rhinoplasty that is done with the purpose of improving nasal breathing. A septoplasty is done also at the time of rhinoplasty.Hope this helps!

 A functional septorhinoplasty is performed only to improve airflow through the nose, once medical necessity has been documented at the time of examination and consultation. This usually involves a septoplasty to improve airflow in the back of the nose and cartilage grafting techniques to help with breathing issues only. A cosmetic rhinoplasty is performed to change the shape of the nose, and must be paid for by the patient.  For more information and diagrams describing the differences between a septoplasty and a rhinoplasty, please see the link and the video below

When we do a rhinoplasty, we're operating on the outside of the nose. We'll either do this to improve the shape or to improve the nasal function, or both. A functional septorhinoplasty is an operation on the external nose that is designed to improve the nose's function. It typically involves straightening the septum then using cartilage taken from the septum to straighten or widen parts of the outside nose that are critical to breathing. For more, check out my blog post on this exact subject.