Can I get rhinoplasty surgery if I have low white blood cell count?

Some people have a natural lower white blood cell count. You should see your regular doctor to make sure everything is fine, and if it is, it won't interfere with rhinoplasty surgery. Be sure to see a rhinoplasty expert for consultation.

A slightly low white cell count may be a normal baseline and associated with normal response to challenges of surgery.

If you do not have a history of repetitive or slow healing infections or slow healing wounds, it may be that this is normal and functioning fine for you.

I would suggest however that proceeding to surgery should involve an overnight stay in hospital and 24 hours of intravenous antibiotics rather than day-case surgery and oral antibiotics only to include margin of protection within a sensible range.

It is also fair to say that probably many younger patients have surgery safely and simply do not know whether their white cell count is below average because they have never tested it.

Your white blood count is only borderline low. I doubt that it indicates any problem or that it would interfere with your procedure

We see this occasionally, and it has not caused any problems with rhinoplasty surgery in any of our patients. I'm sure your surgeon will feel the same way, especially with endorsement by your general practitioner. Wishing you all moving forward! Sincerely, Dr Joseph

Hello and thank you for your question. There are many possible reasons for this and you should receive a complete work up and medical clearance from your primary doctor prior to considering surgery. After this is worked out then I recommend that you seek consultation with a qualified board-certified rhinoplasty surgeon who can evaluate you in person.

Best wishes and good luck.

Richard G. Reish, M.D.
Harvard-trained plastic surgeon

You should always listen to your GP. They are correct in this case lower white cell count shouldn't have any affect on the performance of the surgery. I specialize in Rhinoplasty so I can not perform a blepharoplasty. However, combination surgeries with a team of surgeons is in fact possible. If you consult a physician to help determine if it is suitable for you to have a combination surgery and it is approved, then there is no reason why you couldn't have such surgery.