Dr. Douglas Henstrom, facial plastic surgeon, discusses the top reasons people choose a rhinoplasty Utah Facial Plastics on Good Things Utah with Reagan Leadbetter.
Reagan: We are talking about the top reasons patient choose rhinoplasty, or a nose job. We have Dr. Douglas Henstrom here from Utah Facial Plastics and he is now part of Scott Thompson’s team and we love him.
Dr. Henstrom: Thanks for having me.
Reagan: Let’s talk about the reasons people decide to get a rhinoplasty at Utah Facial Plastics.
Dr. Henstrom: Yeah, so it can vary. Some people may have one little aspect that they want tweaked or changed like a bump on the top of their nose they would like refined, maybe it’s the tip of their nose they’d like more definition to, maybe it’s crooked from trauma to the nose, and for some people, it’s all of thee above. There’s been trauma, it’s crooked, they have a bump on the nose, tip refinement, kind of the whole package so that their nose fits their face better.
Reagan: So I guess each procedure would be different but tell us what it’s like undergoing rhinoplasty at Utah Facial Plastics.
Dr. Henstrom: Going through the process of a nosejob, you come into our office and at that first visit you’re going to come in and talk about what you want, what is it that you’re there for, we want to help you meet your needs and get on the same page with you as far as what you want with the nose. And then we’re going to go through the process of fully evaluating your nose. We’ll look at not just the aesthetic or cosmetic side of what you want your nose to look like but is your nose functioning right. Examining that nose inside and out is a very crucial part of getting a good result in the end.
Reagan: Not only do people sometimes want it to change the look of their nose but sometimes they have breathing issues. Can that be fixed at the same time?
Dr. Henstrom: Absolutely, and that’s the best time to do it. That’s what will bring a lot of people into our office, is they come in complaining of not being able to breathe in either one or both sides of the nose for whatever reason. So it’s important to establish the right kind of diagnosis, why isn’t this person breathing well and then doing something about that at the time of the surgery. Often they’ll say they can’t breathe well and we’ll look and say this is what we can do to make you breathe well and then they’ll say they want to tweak something cosmetically at the same time while already planning on nasal surgery.
Reagan: There are different levels of rhinoplasty too because I know sometimes you can get it numbed a little and tweaked without having to go under and other times it’s a full on surgery.
Dr. Henstrom: Yeah exactly, so there’s options when we take a look at a surgery. We’ll evaluate how much we really need to do and if it is just a little tweaking, there’s options like what some people refer to as a “liquid rhinoplasty”, which involves using dermal fillers to inject on to the nose or to the sides of the nose to balance it out and create a nose a person really likes. That’s one option. The other things to consider with the nose is the nose is one part of the face so you’ve got to consider other areas of the face. For instance, the chin. Often times we’ll incorporate a chin implant at the same time as a rhinoplasty for balance.
Reagan: What kind of recovery time should people expect?
Dr. Henstrom: The initial phase of recovery is going to take one to two months for most of the swelling to resolve. However, the full recovery for a nose job is really going to take a year. And that means all the swelling is going to resolve, all the healing is going to take place. So it takes some time and you have to be patient with the healing process of a rhinoplasty at Utah Facial Plastics.
Reagan: If I want to get a rhinoplasty and decide how much work to take off, what would you recommend?
Dr. Henstrom: Usually one week. You’re going to have a cast on your nose for one week. You may have some stents inside your nose for that amount of time, especially if we’ve done some work inside the nose. So we generally tell people to plan to take a week off of work. After that, the cast comes off, the stents come out, people can get back to work.
Reagan: That’s wonderful and I know for many it can be life changing when they see their new nose that they’ve been dreaming about.
Dr. Henstrom: Absolutely. Quite literally the nose is front and center. So undergoing a rhinoplasty at Utah Facial Plastics is a big decision for people. They shouldn’t take it lightly and make sure they meet with people who won’t compromise the function of the nose.
Reagan: Life changing in so many ways. Dr. Douglas Henstrom, thank you so much, visit utahfacialplastics.com for more information on a rhinoplasty at Utah Facial Plastics.