What is the Ideal Age for a Rhinoplasty?

Several variables should be considered when determining the appropriate age for rhinoplasty surgery. These variables tend to make each patient’s situation unique. As a general rule, it’s important for patients to reach both physical and emotional maturity before proceeding with surgery.
Physical maturity is important for several reasons. Operating on the nose before growth has stabilized can have significant consequences. Under these circumstances, continued growth following rhinoplasty surgery can result in nasal changes that may alter the appearance of the nose. In addition, rhinoplasty surgery performed at an early age has the potential to disrupt facial growth. This can result in flattened cheekbones and even malocclusion.
Emotional maturity is also extremely important. For the most part, this procedure is irreversible and young patients must understand the significance of their decision. The nose is located in the center of their face and their appearance will be altered forever.
Although opinions vary from surgeon to surgeon regarding the earliest age for rhinoplasty, most surgeons feel that an age of 15 to 17 for women and 16 to 18 for men is appropriate. Each patient’s situation is unique and several factors may alter these numbers. In children with congenital nasal birth defects or post-traumatic nasal deformities, surgery may be indicated at an earlier age. In this group, significant nasal aesthetic deformities, deviation of the nasal septum, and difficulty breathing may make early intervention a necessity.
If you’re considering rhinoplasty surgery as a teenager, it’s important to first discuss the issue with your parents. If everyone agrees that rhinoplasty is an option, consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon would be appropriate. The vast majority of patients who undergo rhinoplasty as teenagers report high levels of satisfaction.

Several variables are considered when determining the ideal age for rhinoplasty surgery. As a general rule, it’s important for you to reach both physical and emotional maturity before proceeding with surgery.Physical maturity is important because continued growth following rhinoplasty surgery can change appearance of the nose over time.  It is common for the nose to become large during adolescence and for other facial features to mature later during development.  You also need to consider the development of the nasal septum, which can influence growth of the midface and other nasal structures.  Rhinoplasty surgery performed at a very early age has the potential to alter facial growth, and it is best to wait until full development of the nose and face has occurred before surgery.  When considering the ideal age for Rhinoplasty, emotional maturity is also extremely important.  You must understand the significance of the decision for rhinoplasty surgery. Rhinoplasty surgery will alter the appearance of the nose which can also affect facial aesthetics in general. This change can be quite powerful on one’s emotions, and you must understand the permanence of these changes prior rhinoplasty surgery.Although opinions vary from surgeon to surgeon regarding the ideal age for rhinoplasty, most surgeons feel that an age of 15 to 17 for women and 16 to 18 for men is appropriate.Each patient’s situation is unique, and several factors may make you an ideal candidate earlier in life than others. For example, in children with post-traumatic nasal deformities, surgery may be indicated at an earlier age. In this group, nasal deformities, a deviated nasal septum, and difficulty breathing may make early intervention acceptable to correct the functional concerns.If you’re considering rhinoplasty surgery as a teenager, it’s important to first discuss the issue with your parents. If everyone agrees that rhinoplasty is an option for you, consultation with a board-certified facial plastic surgeon would be appropriate. Facial plastic surgeon’s limit their practice to plastic surgery of the face and specialize in rhinoplasty.

Hello and thank you for your question. I start rhinoplasty at age 15 in the right patient with parental consent. I recommend that you seek consultation with a qualified board-certified plastic surgeon who can evaluate you in person.

Best wishes and good luck.

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

It is essential that your nose has finished growing and you are mature enough to comprehend the surgery and its implications.

Dear Realself user,Thank you for your very good question, I will do my best to anwser you.I would reccoment for females to complete the age of 17 because this is when your bones in your nose are done growing and the nose sets.A male should complete the age of 18 to undergo a rhinoplasty operation.
Best regards,
TAS Aesthetic Surgery Clinic

I never perform a rhinoplasty for cosmetic reasons on anyone under the age of 18-years. Even at the age of 18, I often ask patients who is supporting them at home. It is always good to have a parent or other older family member on your side. Imagine if things don't quite go to plan? The last thing you need at this stage is your mum or dad saying "i told you you shouldn't have had this done in the first place!'.
It is much better if you have someone who can sit down with you and your surgeon and listen to both the up and downsides of surgery. You can then go away and talk about it at home before returning again, if necessary.
This is a little vague, but I have noticed that my patients who are 22-years or older, have often had enough time to think about whether they really want surgery and weigh up the pros and cons - they tend to be a lot happier than a lot of my younger patients.
Hope this helps, good luck!

Thank you for your question.Sixteen is often used as a convenient starting point to consider teenage rhinoplasty. Each teenager needs to be assessed and the influences taken into account on a case by case basis. In teenagers rhinoplasty, it’s a question of emotional maturity more so than physical.Teenagers are still forming their personality and rhinoplasty, like other external influences, can for good or for bad shape their character.

Teenage Rhinoplasty is a sensitive issue and topic and one that involves the family closely. There are two extremely critical factors when considering to operate on a teenager: Nasal maturity and Emotional maturity. Nasal maturity is when the nose has essentially stopped growing and the cartilage and bones are mature enough to withstand the trauma of a rhinoplasty. Usually nasal maturity is achieved by age 15+ for most noses. There are sometimes 17-18 year old noses that are still not mature physically, so it is anatomically specific for each patient individually. 

The major issue regarding timing is that the surgery should be delayed until growth is complete. For women, that is often by the age of 15. In general, it should be some time after a woman has started her period, and generally by age 15 or certainly 16, it is reasonable to go ahead. Men mature later, and for them a more appropriate age is 17 or 18.  However, the timing can be individualized based on the patient’s maturation.

The ideal age for rhinoplasty is after puberty. If you had the growth spurt of puberty which is any where between 13 to 16 years of age, then you can safely undergo a rhinoplasty. Remember that is the ideal age but rhinoplasty can be done at any age in special circumstances, such as cleft palate noses, traumatic injury to the nose etc.RegardsDr. Janjua

There is some variability as to when the face and nose fully matures. In most patients, male or female, rhinoplasty can be considered at 15-16 years old.  Though in some patients, it may be wise to wait a few more years to allow things to fully develop.  It is also important to keep in mind the psychosocial effects that come with any plastic surgery. It is critical that patients understand that what it means to change the appearance of a certain part of the face/body. Also important that patients realize what the recovery will entail and what they can expect in terms of results. It is very important that parents are involved in the decision making process in all younger patients. 

Hope that helps and good luck.