As board-certified facial plastic and reconstructive surgeons, Dr. Scott Thompson and Dr. Douglas Henstrom both perform a lot of rhinoplasty surgeries. Last week, Dr. Henstrom took us inside a rhinoplasty surgery with a few clips from his procedure. The images are graphic to proceed with caution!
Many patients who undergo rhinoplasty surgery want to make more than one change to their nose. This young patient desired a straight dorsum with the bump taken down, a more refined and smaller tip, and a little bit of a lift.
After being sedated under general anesthesia at Lakeview Hospital, Dr. Henstrom prepared the patient for surgery. He then started by taking down the dorsal bump (no pictures). He then made an incision on the front of the columella (middle piece of cartilage between the nostrils) to access the inside of the nose. Here are some images from inside a rhinoplasty surgery with Dr. Henstrom:
The surgery took approximately four hours to complete and immediately you can see a difference in the profile of the patient. The bump is gone and the tip is lift. The nose has already started to swell at this point so actual refinements of the tip cannot yet be seen. Much of this swelling will go down in 3 weeks with approximately 75 percent of the swelling gone by month three. The remaining swelling can take 6-12 months to completely subside after surgery. It’s important to avoid excess sun exposure and wear sunscreen during that time as it can prolong swelling. We also instruct patients on some nasal exercises to do following surgery to break up the swelling.
For more information regarding rhinoplasty surgery at Utah Facial Plastics, call (801)776-2220 or contact us HERE.