Are pictures taken of rhinoplasty directly after surgery (in the operating room) accurate to post-healing results?

I sometimes take intra op or immediately post of photos just for my education especially if the rhinoplasty was unusual. This could be an accurate example of what happened in surgery, but as we all know the final results may not be evident for months. But as my colleague mentioned, if it doesn't look good as soon as the procedure ends, it will never look good later.

Hi, thank you for this question. The answer is no. You can see a general improvement in the shape of the nose immediately postop, but the nose changes significantly over the following days/weeks/years. One can see a nose continue to change even up to 2 years after surgery. If you are considering rhinoplasty, I recommend seeing a board certified aesthetic plastic surgeon.

This is a great question. We obviously look at our results at the end of each rhinoplasty to decide if we are satisfied with the results, but this is not the time to take a post op picture. In fact the nose keeps changing up to two years after the surgery. A perfect result one month after the operation may not look so perfect a year later. This is especially true in thin skinned individuals.