Revision Rhinoplasty Surgery Challenges

- Before rhinoplasty gained popularity as a cosmetic procedure, operations were more frequently carried out to improve breathing without altering the nose's outward look.

Revision Rhinoplasty Surgery Challenges

Previous surgery performed only due to breathing problems: (septoplasty)

Before rhinoplasty gained popularity as a cosmetic procedure, operations were more frequently carried out to improve breathing without altering the nose's outward look. The primary idea behind these operations is to enter through the nose and remove the bent nasal cartilage. In this situation, there could not be enough cartilage in the nose when the patient decides to undergo a second surgery. Therefore, cartilage from the ear or rib may be required. Working on a nose that hasn't had surgery presents greater challenges.

Revision of patients who have had one rhinoplasty before:

In certain patients, it could be required to extract cartilage from the ear or rib because the nose's cartilages have already been used in earlier operations. It might not be necessary at other times. Only during surgery can extra cartilage be seen to be necessary.

The skin attaches firmly to the underlying bone and cartilage tissue, depending on the previous surgery. In order to better separate the nasal skin from the underlying bone and cartilage, it is therefore necessary to wait until wound healing has finished before undertaking revision surgery. The best time frame for this is one year. However, depending on the skin structure, revision surgery can be done as early as the sixth month.

The injured nasal skin is a result of the previous surgery. For instance, if you imagine the skin on your nose as a quilt, injured places will have different skin thickness. Therefore, even if the doctor doing nasal aesthetics forms the underlying bone and cartilage tissue correctly, there may still be depressions owing to slight skin weakness in some regions if the skin overlaying it is of variable thickness all over the nose.

Revision of patients who have had 2 or more nose aesthetics before:

For these patients, the hazards (such as the requirement for cartilage, skin adhesion, and degradation of skin quality) are real.

After undergoing two or more procedures, these risks are far more likely to materialize.

Why are so many doctors opposed to revision surgery?

 There are several reasons for this:

1. The doctor's experience is insufficient for revision surgery. This is entirely typical because revision surgeries demand a great deal of expertise.
2. Perfect outcomes are impossible to obtain during revision operations. Patients who have never had surgery previously are more likely to have successful outcomes. Even though the outcome of revision procedures is better than the initial one, patients' expectations might not be met.
3. Patients who need revision surgery for minor, nebulous issues cannot anticipate how tough the procedure will be. Sometimes patients seek to have their immaculate and exquisite noses redone without realizing that the outcome will be less appealing than the original. In this situation, the surgeon will decline to do surgery in order to safeguard the patient and prevent any harm.

How should patients decide if they want revision surgery?

Our recommendation when deciding to have revision surgery is as follows: If you have a noticeable, pronounced curvature in your nose, a severe nose drop, and/or a serious nasal collapse, you may want to think about having another surgery. However, avoid having surgery for minor issues since the dangers associated with revision surgeries are too great. The dangers might not be worth the slight issues.

To schedule a rhinoplasty appointment, get in touch with Deva Hospital.