What Should I Expect from a Rhinoplasty Procedure?
Your procedure will always begin with the administration of anesthesia. This step is to make sure that you are as comfortable and safe as possible during the rhinoplasty. Your options include IV sedation or general anesthesia, but the one you will use will be determined by you and your surgeon ahead of time.
Once the anesthesia has kicked in, the surgical site will be cleaned with a sterile solution, and your surgeon will begin to make the incisions on your nose. These incisions will be made according to whether an open or closed approach is used.
An open approach uses incisions across the columella, the fleshy bit of tissue between the nostrils. This method offers the greatest amount of access to the inner structure of the nasal area.
If only minor adjustments are needed to your nasal structure, then a closed approach will likely be performed. In this method, the incisions are made inside your nose.
Once the incisions are made, your surgeons will add or remove tissue or structures as necessary to achieve the look you desire. Cartilage is often borrowed from other places on the body, like the ear or rib cage, to fill in gaps.
Once the structure has been altered, the incisions are then closed. Your nostrils will be lined with a splint, stuffed with gauze and covered in bandages to prevent shifting during the healing process, and you are then sent out to begin your recovery.