Question: My nostrils appear very asymmetrical since my rhinoplasty. What are my options for fixing this?

Answer: If your rhinoplasty surgery was less than a year ago, I would just recommend patient observation since there certainly can be rather significant changes that occur with the nose during the healing phase.  If it has been more than a year since your rhinoplasty then more than likely you will need some sort of revision surgery to correct significant nostril asymmetry.  Fortunately, this can oftentimes be performed through a rather minor revision in the office setting as opposed to needing a full, major revision rhinoplasty procedure.  That obviously is determined by your specific problem and nasal anatomy. 

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Question: I’m 15 and interested in getting a nose job but everyone says I’m too young. Would a non-surgical nose job be an option for me in the meantime?

Answer: If you are a 15-year-old female you indeed may be a candidate for a rhinoplasty if you have stopped growing.  If you are male then most likely you have not stopped growing at age 15, and I would recommend waiting until you are 17 or 18 years old.  If you do need to wait for the surgical procedure then we could certainly perform a nonsurgical rhinoplasty, but that would really depend on your specific nasal anatomy and your areas of concern as to how much improvement could be achieved through this method.  Obviously, we would need to get the consent of a parent or guardian before performing any sort of treatment on a minor.   

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Question: Does the degree of swelling after rhinoplasty have more to do with what was done during surgery or with the patient?

Answer: The degree of swelling from a rhinoplasty can certainly be due to the surgeon’s technique in that surgeons that are more refined in their technique and do not damage the surrounding tissue can often end up with less swelling than surgeons that are less experienced or are not as technically gifted.  I do, however, feel that patients with multiple cartilage grafts also tend to have more swelling due to the fact that more trauma is experienced and the fact that the cartilage graft itself may allow for more inflammatory change to occur during the healing process and then the patients themselves certainly can also have an impact on the amount of swelling since obviously some patients will swell more from a traumatic injury than others, so I really feel it is most likely a combination of a variety of factors that will determine how much swelling a rhinoplasty patient gets and how quickly the swelling will subside in those patients.

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Question: I’ve heard of Kenalog injections for improving swelling after rhinoplasty. What are these? Are they safe and do they really work?

Answer:Kenalog allows the swelling to subside and, therefore, avoids this fibrosis and the unexpected outcome.  Overall, Kenalog injections, at least the dilute 10 mg per mL suspension, are extremely safe when performed in experienced hands.

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Question: A few days after my cheek implant, I was hit in the face with a softball. How will this affect the healing process?

Answer: That is very unfortunate that you were traumatized by a softball so soon after surgery. Hopefully, the impact did not cause any movement of the implant, and if that is the case then you only have to recover from the swelling and bruising that the impact has added. Long term, you should get the result that you desire. If the impact ended up moving the implant then the implant may be malpositioned enough that it would require future corrective surgery. Only time will tell since once the swelling subsides, we will be able to evaluate things and decide whether there is any need for concern. Obviously, the side that was hit with the softball is going to be a bit more swollen and bruised for a longer period of time than the side that was not.

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