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  • Don't Take a Chance With Your Nose! How to Find a Rhinoplasty Expert
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Rhinoplasty is one of the most common procedures performed in the United States. It's also one of the most difficult procedures to perform in the United State, in fact worldwide. It is well recognized that rhinoplasty takes an expert, expert skills, expert opinions, expert technique, experts in artistry, experts in functionality to get a very good result consistently. And the reason why is because the nose is in the middle of the face. It's smacked up in the middle of the face. Symmetry is defined by the nose and it's a place that we all look. We all stare at our nose. Also we have to keep in mind when we look in the mirror, it's different than when we look in a picture. And today with all this selfies, people look in the mirror. They look in the picture and they're not really sure which one is them. It's gets confusing.

And we have a tendency... our brain has a tendency to overestimate the size of our nose when we look at a photograph and we look at a mirror as well. So we have to keep these things in mind as we look at our nose. But when you want to undergo a rhinoplasty, it's incredibly important you see an expert. An expert is someone who specializes in rhinoplasty because the average board certified plastic surgeons I'd say just doesn't do that many of them. They just don't. There are now some of us who specialize in doing rhinoplasty every week. And someone who has a lot of experience in rhinoplasty is doing at least 50. If they're doing upwards of 100 to 150, then you know that that doctor is specially equipped, talented and focused on rhinoplasty. But if you go to someone who's an expert who does rhinoplasty all the time, then your postop recovery should be quicker. How long? The average patient, a week. They have a splint for a week. The splint comes off after a week and they tend to feel a lot better after a week. Most people go back to their normal routine. Nobody knowing that anything is done.

Bruising and swelling are not that common when it's done very gingerly or done with someone who's got a lot of expertise in this area. He knows how to operate in the appropriate planes with the nose. Can bruising and swelling happen? Yes of course they can. But it’s generally speaking very mild, minimal and not something that distracts from a person's normal life. After a week they tend to go right back into their normal routines. Exercise, most patients have to take anywhere from 10 days to six weeks off. But by two weeks most people are back on the treadmill up and about feeling pretty good about themselves.

There's two approaches to rhinoplasty. There's open and there's closed. What does that mean? Well in theory the differences are very mild. Open means a tiny incision underneath the nostrils and the columella, the skin separates the nostrils. And the skin is lifted off the nose. And the doctor is able to work directly on the cartilages of the nose. A closed rhinoplasty is when incisions are on the inside of the nose, you see no incisions. It's all done in the inside and dissolvable stitches are put there. And the doctor work through minimal access incisions within the nose. Closed rhinoplasty tends to be a procedure that's maybe a little more difficult to master. Open rhinoplasty is where many, many doctors in the US start because it's a little bit easier because you can see all the cartilages. It's my opinion, my professional opinion and my opinion only that closed rhinoplasty is a procedure that results in less bruising and less swelling. less morbidity, quicker recovery time and a nose that falls within the context of that person's face. It's not a completely different nose. It's the same nose, just sort of tweaked or made better so that it fits within that person's face, better proportion, better balance.

Don't Take a Chance With Your Nose! How to Find a Rhinoplasty Expert

Dr. Steven Dayan stresses the importance of choosing a rhinoplasty specialist and details the difference between open and closed procedures.