Overview Introduction

A rhinoplasty is an operation that changes the shape of the nose.

The name Rhinoplasty is derived from the Greek rhis meaning nose and the Greek plassein meaning to form.
(Similarly, the word rhinoceros implies an animal with a large horn on the end of its nose, the Greek word for horn being keras.)

The operation of rhinoplasty is sometimes called a nose job but this is a rather demeaning term for what is often a very difficult and exacting surgical procedure.

Rhinoplasty is a relatively common operation performed by plastic and ENT surgeons in Australia. However an increasing workload of other surgeries and non-surgical cosmetic procedures means an individual surgeon may do less and less rhinoplasties each year. Some surgeons may do no more than 6 rhinoplasties per year. In this practice we average that many each week.

Here is an example of a rhinoplasty performed in this practice. The nose looks natural and there is not much swelling just 2 months after surgery despite a big size reduction. These are features of the extensive closed rhinoplasty known as Template Rhinoplasty. Other techniques usually have less effective skin draping so there will be more swelling after similar size reductions. Firm swelling is usually at its worst 6 weeks after surgery so this patient can expect further refinement over the course of a year.

Pre-op

2 months post-op

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