How Much Would Rhinoplasty Change my Nose? (photo)

Your side view shows a good nasal labial angle and a well defined tip.  You biggest complaint is the dorsum, which is bony and cartilage and needs a reduction.  It is possible to operate in this area and leave the other areas untouched.  This should give you the results you are looking for.

Best Wishes,

Gary Horndeski, M.D.

Rhinoplasty can change your nose as much, or as little, as you want to. If you desire to have a slightly more narrow nose and removal of the small bump then that can be achieved. The goal is to give you the result you want. You can also ask your surgeon to perform photo "morphing" where your photos can be modified to simulate what your post-operative result will look like. It is a very good communication tool to ensure that you and your surgeon are on the same page. We offer this in our office in Lone Tree, South Denver metro. I hope this information is helpful.Stephen Weber MD, FACS

The rhinoplasty procedure will narrow the bones and the upper lateral cartilage at the midthird of the nose.  It could involve removal of any hump or dorsal convexity and then osteotomies to narrow the nasal bones.  The upper lateral cartilages will follow suit and give approximately 30% narrowing of the nasal bridge.  The tip could be addressed if the patient desires, but would only give minimal change.

Rhinoplasty surgery can range from very minimal to very aggressive.  The actual procedure performed depends on exactly what you are looking to achieve.  If you don't want your nostrils changed, then it should be possible to keep them the same while still giving you the result you desire.  Make sure that you and your surgeon have a frank discussion about what you are looking for so that your both on the same page.

A well done rhinoplasty can give you as much or as little as you want. The difficulty in the past often was trying to communicate to your surgeon exactly what you wanted your nose to look like after the surgery. People would bring in photos of celebrities noses that they liked, photos of their own nose where a pen had been used to ink out the parts they didn't like, and long detailed descriptions of what they wanted to see. Even with all this, and after a very long consultation, it was sometimes still not clear what result you were looking for. Fortunately we now have computer imaging where we will take a picture of you and then using sophisticated imaging software make changes to your nose until you say "that's exactly what I'm looking for". This has changed the consultation process significantly in two ways. First, you can now be sure that the results will actually make your nose look the way you want (I have had patients who think they know exactly what changes they want, but after seeing those changes during the imaging process, realize that they actually do not like the way their "new" nose looks- good thing we figured this out beforehand and not afterwards). Many times people will come in thinking only a certain thing needs to be done, but after imaging only that change, realize that they need a few other things done in order to bring the end result into balance.Second, we can then make sure that the results you are looking for are actually achievable, and now knowing exactly what we will be doing to achieve those results can then give you very accurate information about what to expect before, during, and after the surgery. Long story short- start with a consultation that includes computer imaging, find a result you like, and then the rest of your questions (ie how minor can the surgery be?) can be easily answered (we do all of this in our office). Good luck.