Nose Job Basics

To determine the areas of the nose that will be addressed during your rhinoplasty, your plastic surgeon will evaluate your overall facial appearance, proportion and structure, while taking into account your goals, medical history and ethnicity. 

Alterations can include eliminating bumps and irregularities on the bridge, lowering a high bridge, raising a low bridge, narrowing a wide bridge, turning the tip up or down, reducing or enlarging the size of the tip, and changing the size or position of the nostrils.

You may have heard that the nose is broken during rhinoplasty surgery, but it’s not like breaking an arm or leg, and it is not necessary in every case. This is a misconception from decades ago, when surgeons didn’t use general anesthesia as much and the patient could hear what was happening during surgery. Today, however, nose jobs are usually performed under general anesthesia or with deep sedation so the patient isn’t conscious of aware of what’s going on during the one- to three-hour process. 

If it’s necessary to adjust or move the nasal bones during surgery, rest assured that this is a controlled part of the procedure that contributes greatly to favorable outcomes.