What problems do you face before rhinoplasty?

Mrinal Supriya discusses problems that patients face before undergoing rhinoplasty.

Laura Livesey: When people are coming to you and considering rhinoplasty, what kind of physical problems are they coming to you with?

Mrinal Supriya: If you talk about the actual physical problem that the patient faces before they consider rhinoplasty, the number one problem is that they feel that the shape, or the appearance of their nose, is not in sync with the rest of their face. The nose becomes the centre of gravity. It becomes the focal point. It becomes the area that attracts undue attraction either in their mind and, more frequently, in the outsider’s mind. Most of the time, they feel their nose is too strong; by this, I mean that it might have a very prominent hump, it might be too big, too high, or too wide.

Particularly in females, they are conscious of the tip of the nose. They feel that it is too broad or the angle that, when the tip of the nose and the lip is not feminine, so most of my female patients would feel that their nose is not feminine and is out of sync.

…the number one problem for patients is that the shape, or the appearance of their nose, is not in sync with the rest of their face. This leads to a lot of angst and self-consciousness.

I have a lot of patients who would not get their picture taken. Or if they’re going to have a picture taken, they will prefer to have it in one specific angle, which hides the undue appearance of their nose.

The second group of patients have usually experienced some trauma; ether an accident or through a sports injury, which has led to a deformity of the nose.

The third group of patients are those who are not happy with the appearance of the nose and, in addition, have difficulty breathing through it because their nostril is blocked due to a deviated septum. Grossly, these are the three group of people who would consider rhinoplasty and come for a consultation.