A great rhinoplasty, or “nose job,” can cause radical changes in one’s life. Although it can have an obvious effect on the way other people see you, it can significantly improve your self-confidence and perception as well as your capacity to functionally breath better.
Revision rhinoplasty, also called secondary rhinoplasty, is when a patient undergoes an extra nose job after an initial one, especially when they are not satisfied with the result from the first procedure. The rate of patients seeking a revision rhinoplasty surgery may fall between 5 percent to 15 percent, even in the hands of the best surgeons.
Many people undergo a revision rhinoplasty procedure for a variety of reasons, some of the most common reasons are listed below:
- Addressing breathing issues
- Excess internal scarring
- Adding or removing volume to the nose
- Altering the nasal tip
- Nasal collapse
- Perforated or deviated septum
Most of the time, the revision rhinoplasty procedure suffices enough to correct any residual defect and provide a satisfactory result. But, what about cases where patients are still not satisfied with the result? What can they do?
How many times can revision be done?
There is no fixed limit to the number of times an individual can get revision rhinoplasty.
There is, however, a finite amount of nasal structure that you can efficiently have revised to produce results. Additional increased possibilities of complications come with every extra nose job. The risks increases when many complications are involved as well as the ability to effectively alter appearance. This is why contacting the correct surgeon in the case of a revision rhinoplasty procedure is so critically important.
Factors that effect the number of times you can get a nose job
- Complexity of surgery
Complexity is one of the most important determinants of the number of times you can get revision rhinoplasty.
The procedure gets more challenging and difficult with each revision. The more complex the revision surgery, the more limited the adjustment solutions are. The capacity to make significant changes will reduce after the first rhinoplasty modification. This can, however, vary depending on what is being further corrected by the revision surgery.
For example, if the initial surgery was done in order to rectify a breathing problem and a later revision is to change the nasal tip, overlapping complications are less likely to occur. This is due to the fact that the two surgeries are not really concentrated in working on the same tissue area.
As you can imagine, with multiple operations on the same tissue area, complications may arise and increase. For instance, multiple surgeries to modify the bridge of the nose may get increasingly harder.
2. The surgeon performing the procedure
Your surgeon’s ability, experience, and skills will ascertain how effectively they can perform the procedure. While most people are usually hasty to move to a different surgeon if they have an unsatisfactory first result, this is usually not advisable. It is often better to stick to the same surgeon for a revision rhinoplasty. One benefit you get from working with the same surgeon is that they are already familiar with your nose structure and they clearly understand what needs to be done and revised.
This can increase the likelihood of the change being rectified the next time with confidence, in comparison to informing a new doctor of the adjustments done in the previous surgery.
However, if you are not comfortable with the original surgeon that did the procedure, you can most certainly switch — do your research about rhinoplasty surgeons that take previous procedures into consideration and can make you comfortable.
Surgeons who have experience and truly understand the limitations of a revision and subsequent nose jobs are the best revision rhinoplasty surgeons. They can optimize their expertise of aesthetics and sense of facial harmony to identify the best minimal alterations to the nose that will produce the most positive outcomes.
Ask for proof of revision surgeries they have done for other patients before deciding on your revision rhinoplasty surgeon. Take special care to examine how many similar problems and nose styles have been dealt with.
Here at Nova Rhinoplasty, we prioritize your needs and take all the necessary steps to ensure that any surgical alterations from a revision rhinoplasty do not cause or create complications while getting you the results that you desire.
3. The Patient
Just as the surgeon must understand the drawbacks of revision nose jobs, so must the patient. As a patient, you may have to adjust your expectations of what’s achievable with each extra revision. A good surgeon will help you control your expectations and make you understand what is possible. A patient is less likely to be unsatisfied with results if they don’t have unrealistic expectations in their mind.
If you are considering a revision rhinoplasty, contact Dr. Arabshahi of Nova Rhinoplasty. Dr. Arabshahi fundamentally recognizes that every patient’s face holds its own unique beauty, and each patient will require a different nasal aesthetic to harmonize their nose with their distinct facial features.
References
Deborah Weatherspoon, Ph.D., R.N Teresa Bergen, Reasons for Rhinoplasty, 2018.
Retrieved from; https://www.healthline.com/health/rhinoplasty#purpose
Retrieved from: https://www.mdface.com/blog/many-times-can-get-revision-rhinoplasty/
Retrieved from: https://www.rhinoplastytoronto.ca/blog/rhinoplasty/how-many-revision-rhinoplasty/