Description
If you are unhappy with the results of your nose job, you may be considering revision rhinoplasty. Because it is one of the most complex facial cosmetic surgery procedures, it is essential that you choose a highly skilled surgeon. Dr. Sherris is a board-certified plastic surgeon who can help you.
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Revision rhinoplasty or secondary rhinoplasty means that we're doing a second rhinoplasty after one or more have already been undertaken by the same patient. A revision rhinoplasty would never be undertaken till at least one year after the primary rhinoplasty. And that's because we want to let everything heal as well as possible, so that we really see what the issues are at the end of a year.
Many times, patients after a rhinoplasty think they need a revision at a month. But if they wait the whole year, many of the things they're worried about just go away. Revision rhinoplasty is used in those cases where whatever those issues are have not resolved, and then we need to address them with a secondary procedure.
For revision rhinoplasty, you really must find an experienced rhinoplasty surgeon. Revision rhinoplasty is much more difficult. There are issues related to function and appearance in almost every case. The surgeon has to be familiar with a variety of techniques to correct problems. Many times, it's almost like a reconstruction. So it's almost like you're rebuilding a nose. And to rebuild that nose, you need parts to use, and you need to know how to shape them, and how to use them to get both appearance and function corrected.
A revision rhinoplasty can take even up to four hours. It's a much more complex procedure. Some patients will come in asking for a revision, and if it's a very subtle problem, we may even recommend not to undergo a revision rhinoplasty because things could even get worse. If it's a more significant issue where the surgeon agrees the revision is warranted, you certainly want to make sure that surgeon has done a lot of revision rhinoplasty. It's one of the most technically challenging procedures in the field of plastic surgery.
When you can fix a revision rhinoplasty to the patient's satisfaction, and as I said, sometimes it takes them two years to get there, sometimes the cast comes off and they're in tears in such happiness, there is really, probably, no more satisfying procedure than I do. That patient who has a revision comes in many times having walked around for years with a problem that's eating at them, but they're scared to go to a doctor. They don't know if you as a new doctor can really fix it. They already heard promises in a first surgery, and they're really scared. So it's really a much more significant process than a primary rhinoplasty.