Did my Nose Collapse After my Septoplasty?

Question

I had a septoplasty 9 months ago. Everything healed perfectly, but 6 months after the surgery I started feeling a weird sensation on the bridge of my nose. It felt kind of like a hard pressure/very wooden feeling. I would feel it at random times and sometimes harder than others. My columella seems to turn down to one side when I smile, too. I never noticed it before, but it might have always. I had a rhinoplasty last week and he said everything was perfect in there. What could it have been?

Paul E. Kelly, MD · Answer

The septoplasty is designed to straighten the inside nose to improve the ability of one to breathe from the nose - a little known fact however is that the entire tip of the nose sits on the septum - if your surgeon violates the tip supporting structures when doing the septal repair, then it is possible to not only see a change in the outside nose - usually marked by a shallowing in the lower 1/3rd of the nose but also in a change at the columella or the center post between the nostrils.  As the nose sinks, the patient may feel a pulling sensation or pressure as you describe and some will notice a "bump" appearing on the bridge - which is actually not so much a bump there as a decent of the tip of the nose making the dorsum or bridge seem more prominent.  Doing a rhinoplasty which involves modification of the outside nose to create a new shape can elicit correction via re-supporting the nose that has fallen.  Obviously I am not examining you nor seeing photographs so in your particular situation this would be required to definitively answer your question - hope this information helps.

Barry L. Eppley, MD, DMD · Answer

Most likely what you were feeling is a result of normal wound healing. Scar tissue forms and contracts for many months after nasal surgery and this is likely what is giving you that sensation. After a septoplasty, some recurvature may occur and this may be most visible in how the columella looks. If the columella looks deviated or turned, this may be an issue to take up with your septoplasty surgeon down the road if it persists. Since your recent rhinoplasty surgery confirmed that all looks well deep inside, you can be assured that this is just part of the healing process.

Did my Nose Collapse After my Septoplasty?

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Did my Nose Collapse After my Septoplasty?

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