Rhinoplasty, also known as a nose job, nose reshaping surgery or simply nose surgery, improves the shape and proportion of the nose, thereby enhancing facial balance and leading to improved self-confidence.
At Al Shunnar Plastic Surgery in Dubai, our highly trained Board-Certified Plastic Surgeons can reshape your nose, remove a hump from your nose and refine the nasal tip. Our Expert Plastic Surgeon can also correct a deviated septum, thereby alleviating possible breathing difficulties.
To achieve a better balance and harmony of face, rhinoplasty patients sometimes also require a chin augmentation procedure and, depending or needs or wishes, they may also choose to do other procedures at the same time, such as lip augmentation, facelift, eye lift or brow lift.
What to expect during Rhinoplasty?
Rhinoplasty can be done on an in-patient or outpatient basis and may take between one to three hours to perform under general anesthesia. Dressings may include external and internal splints, as well as packing. You may be sore for a day or two after the procedure.
How is the recovery from Rhinoplasty?
Immediately following the procedure and a few days after, expect swelling, bruising of the nose, and possible bruising around the eyes. Swelling and bruising begins to resolve within a week or two and for some people, it may take a few weeks to completely disappear.
We have asked Dr Kamal Sawan, a US Board Certified Consultant Plastic Surgeon at Al Shunnar Plastic Surgery Clinic in Dubai and who has performed Rhinoplasties for over 18 years, what you need to know about Rhinoplasty
Q. When is the best time for a Rhinoplasty?
Dr Kamal. Individuals undergo rhinoplasty either because they want to look better or sometimes to breathe better. So, there’s no specific age for a rhinoplasty, although a lot of patients tend to get it when they’re young. This is due to the fact that it’s something they’ve always wanted through their childhood years. We tend to wait till children are about 18 years before we can perform rhinoplasty on them. But we can perform it at almost any age depending on the individual case
Q. What is unique about a rhinoplasty procedure?
Dr Kamal. Often times you’ll hear individuals say rhinoplasty is the most complicated procedure in plastic surgery. That view is that the three-dimensional anatomy, the subtle detail and the fact that we’re treating an actual breathing organ make it very complex. After I completed nine years of training to become American Board-Certified, I recall my professor expressing to me that it’ll take seven years to master about 70% of rhinoplasty. And he was right, as I’ve been practicing Plastic Surgery for over 18 years and I can attest to that.
Although the complexity is pretty significant, the good news is that we have techniques now, a contemporary approach to rhinoplasty, which is more like a structural approach. This means that much of the risk has been drawn down, we have a much more predictable procedure now, we can achieve better results and we have eliminated essentially all the concerns about creating an unnatural result.
Personally, I draw upon my years of experience to make sure that in each case we have an outcome that is going to make people really happy.
Q. How will I know if my new nose will fit my face?
Dr Kamal. It is vital after rhinoplasty that the nose fits the person’s face, it has to blend in harmoniously with the other facial features. To make sure of this, we put a lot of attention to make sure that the proportions after surgery match the face, and one of the ways is to use is computer imaging. We have both two dimensional and three-dimensional computer imaging systems that enables us to ‘perform surgery’ in advance of the actual procedure. In addition to the technical part, the Plastic Surgeon also needs to have strong understanding of aesthetics and the eye of an artist to ensure that the nose not only harmoniously fits into the face, but also that it suits the patient. The proper rhinoplasty procedure is tailored to the patient and not to follow a trend or some surgeon’s copy-paste technique.
Q. How long is the recovery time?
Dr Kamal. Most of my patients are surprised that after rhinoplasty they don’t have that much pain. I think some of that is because people hear these stories from decades ago about how difficult it was for individuals to go through rhinoplasty. Recovery is not particularly difficult for the majority of cases, and our patients usually take about one week off from work or school. After that they’re fine to go back to all social activities and work and other people typically won’t notice that surgery was performed after about a week or so.
With the modern techniques that we use, most patients don’t have visible bruising which is really beneficial because people like that. For most patients, the recovery period initially is about a week and they believe they look better than they did before surgery within the first few weeks or so.
One thing that most of our patients are aware of is that rhinoplasty takes a long time to heal completely up to a year to a year and half. This is because there’s a little bit of swelling that persists and the remodeling of the tissue does take a year to heal.
In other procedures, aside from rhinoplasty, the fine detail that comes through over the course of the year or so, that last bit of swelling goes away may not be that important. But with rhinoplasty, the subtle details make the difference between a good result and an excellent result.
Q. Will rhinoplasty help me breathe better?
Dr Kamal. One of the things that makes rhinoplasty unique is the union of the form and function. I often have conversations with my patients who may want a smaller, refined, more delicate nose on the outside, but they also want more breathing on the inside which is contradictory – smaller on the outside, bigger in the inside. There are answers for most patients though it requires understanding of details not only of the anatomy and the aesthetics of the nose but how breathing works.
There are a couple of ways to go about it: one is, in any patient that undergoes rhinoplasty we have to make sure that we preserve their breathing, not make it worse because it has to be as good or better that it was before. For patients who are seeking rhinoplasty because they want to breathe better, we have to devise a strategy that improves their breathing while simultaneously make the nose look more attractive. There are ways we can do this in almost all cases.
Q. Why should I come to Al Shunnar Plastic Surgery for a Rhinoplasty?
Dr Kamal. We have US or Brazilian Board-Certified Plastic Surgeons who have unique background and expertise in rhinoplasty and facial and reconstructive surgery. This provides the best level of confidence that the rhinoplasty you’re going to get is being performed by someone with unique and focused expertise.
I have extensive experience in rhinoplasty procedure and over 18 years surgical experience with a proven track record in Dubai and the US. We also have an entire staff that is devoted to helping you achieve your goal from both an aesthetic and personal perspective.
Lastly, Al Shunnar Plastic Surgery is a very compassionate and non-commercial clinic, which patients feel the moment they walk through the door and which I love to work in.
