Steroid injections post rhinoplasty?

Question

I chose a surgeon for rhinoplasty and scheduled the surgery in July. However, I am concerned as one of his patients has bumps one year post op. Her nose was straight and perfect two weeks post op, but now (one year later) looks crooked and the Dr prescribed steroid injections. I am concerned about having the same result. Does this reflect the surgeon's work or just bad luck?

Selcuk Inanli, MD · Answer

Hello! Thank you for your question.
As far as I can understand from your question the most important detail you should pay attention to when choosing your doctor is that your doctor is an ENT specialist and facial plastic surgeon. It will be more appropriate to choose by researching patient experiences and your doctor's experiences.
Best Regards!

Richard G. Reish, MD, FACS · Answer

Hello and thank you for your question. You should definitely evaluate your surgeon based on thousands of cases and not just a single patient. Here is some general advice when selecting your surgeon. I highly recommend that my patients focus much more on real longterm before and after photographs rather than 3D imaging.   I encounter so many patients in my practice who see me for revision rhinoplasty who previously had surgery elsewhere who feel like they were mislead into surgery by surgeons who relied heavily on 3D imaging without adequate real before and after pictures to back it up.  Photoshop is easy but real surgery is very different.

I always recommend that you carefully evaluate your surgeon’s online before and after gallery on their website for both quality and quantity of results. Make sure that there are hundreds of real before and after pictures which demonstrate long-term follow up results. If your surgeon is posting mostly on table results without real long-term follow up results, that is usually a major red flag.  If a surgeon is posting mostly just splint removal day videos without longterm follow-up pictures, that can also be a red flag.   Long-term results are much more meaningful than on table results or 1 week post-op results.

Best wishes and good luck.

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

Ronald J. Edelson, MD · Answer

This reflects the nature of rhinoplasty even in the most experienced hands. Asymmetry is difficult to correct no matter who the surgeon is and every  surgeon has imperfect results.

Eric M. Joseph, MD · Answer

He believed that one year postoperative photos are one of the ways to evaluate the expertise of your prospective rhinoplasty surgeon. If you are not liking his results, consider looking for somebody else. Below are some informative videos to help you in your journey. Thank you. Sincerely, Dr Joseph

William Portuese, MD · Answer

Steroid injections are only performed for patients who have thick skin in the tip of the nose, which is trying to prevent what's called a poly beak. This occurs with additional swelling in patients that have thick skin and it won't go down without steroid shots. Sometimes patients require anywhere from one to four or five shots, depending upon the thickness of the skin in the first few months after the surgery. The bumps along the bridge line are related to bone and cartilage, which is living tissue, and can regrow a callous. Occasionally, a minor touchup procedure is required to rasp those down. Rhinoplasty is the most difficult procedure to perform correctly in the entire field of cosmetic surgery, so choose your rhinoplasty specialist based on extensive experience producing natural results

Steroid injections post rhinoplasty?

Answers (5)