Are the Pics on Surgery Table Indicative of Final Results?

In the few minutes directly after the completion of rhinoplasty the nose will look pretty close to the final result. Shortly thereafter swelling will set in and that result might be obscured per several months.

The photos taken in the operating room when the surgery is finished should give you a good general idea of what to expect from your final result, but there will be swelling present. In general, your swelling following surgery can be influenced by the following:  Thickness of the skin, whether the procedure was a revision, whether the procedure was open or closed, and whether or not tip work was performed.  Your final result may not be evident for 18-24 months following surgery. I hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck.

   Usually this has no bearing on the final result, as swelling on the operating table starts as soon as the surgery starts.  Even at the end of a 30 minute rhinoplasty, there is swelling present while on the operating table.  If you had a 3 or 4 hour rhinoplasty, the swelling was much greater while on the operating table.  Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

There is always swelling of the nose at time of surgery.  You can certainly get a sense of the new nose.  At 5 weeks most swelling has settled but changes can occur up to a year or two.  Depending on how much work was done on your nasal tip you may still have significant tip swelling .  

At the end of surgery, the nose may looks similar to what it will look like after the swelling comes downn, but in general there still will be swelling at the time of surgery.

At the end of a rhinoplasty surgery you can get an idea of what the final result will be but there will be definite changes to what you see. First, there is already some swelling present at this time. Second, there is scar tissue that will develop over time (different amounts for different people) that will change the appearance(which is one of the reasons we use tape and a splint as a part of the dressing). Third, you have changed the relationship between the different pieces of cartilage and bone that make up the structure of the nose and these relationships will slowly change as things heal as well. Finally, depending on the thickness of the skin, sometimes there is still some "memory" to the skin that maintains the shape of the old nose at the end of the surgery (which is also one of the reasons we use tape and a splint as a part of the dressing). You have pointed out something very important in assessing a rhinoplasty result- it's not getting the nose to look the way you want on the table at the end of the surgery that counts, but anticipating what will happen as the nose heals so that it looks the way you want in 6-12 months that separates a good rhinoplasty surgeron from a great one.