Revision rhinoplasty or secondary rhinoplasty may become a necessity rather than a choice for many reasons. Patients undergoing revision rhinoplasty are often dissatisfied with their previous surgery and may not want to accept that revision rhinoplasty may not be successful in completely correcting cosmetic deformities that could not be corrected in the last surgery or that resulted from surgery.
Scar tissue from previous rhinoplasty is often a problem with revision rhinoplasty and can affect the final outcome as it can recur even after a successful revision rhinoplasty. In addition, revision rhinoplasty requires the use of cartilage instead of damaged and/or missing cartilage removed in the previous surgery. If there is a curvature of the nasal septum, correction is necessary to improve both the appearance and function of the nose.
Revision rhinoplasty is a surgical procedure applied to patients who have had one or more rhinoplasty operations before and who want to improve the appearance and often function of their nose. It is indicated for cosmetic and functional deformities that are not properly treated or become worse after the primary operation. Patients often request revision rhinoplasty to resolve ongoing, new or more severe problems.
Necessary changes in secondary rhinoplasty, that is, revision rhinoplasty, can be made by applying open or closed techniques. Typically, the open technique is preferred if major structural changes are required. Minor contour corrections are made with the closed technique. Closed rhinoplasty is the use of only internal incisions to access the nasal structure. Open rhinoplasty is an incision between the two nasal skins in order to raise the nasal skin so that the structures to be replaced can be seen more clearly. The decision to use the closed or open approach in revision rhinoplasty is at the discretion of the surgeon. Although the scope of revision rhinoplasty surgery varies according to the procedures to be performed, bone, cartilage and soft tissue reshaping is generally required. It is aimed to obtain a nose that is compatible and proportionate with the patient’s face.
For revision rhinoplasty, approximately one year should be waited after the first operation. The reason for this is that it takes at least one year for the soft tissue to mature and certain deformities are expected to decrease over time. Although this period is usually expected to be completed for revision rhinoplasty, waiting in cases such as severe loss of nasal tip support may cause worsening. Added score contraction and loss of tissue planes can make revision rhinoplasty more difficult as time goes on. For this reason, since some deformities need to be intervened as soon as the problem is noticed, the decision to be made by the surgeon after the examination should be followed.
The patient’s complaints should be well understood and the realism of his expectation from revision rhinoplasty should be evaluated. Smoking should be stopped at least two weeks before the operation, and the use of aspirin and similar blood thinners should be discontinued at least one week before the operation.
The recovery process after revision rhinoplasty may vary according to some conditions, especially the scope of the operation and the personal characteristics of the patient. As after rhinoplasty, the head should be kept elevated while lying down, the nose should be protected against impacts, and glasses should not be used for 3 months. For a healthy healing process, the doctor’s instructions should be followed completely.
It can be applied in cases where anatomical or functional problems occur in the nose after nasal surgeries and the appearance obtained as a result of the operation does not meet the expectations of the patient.
Generally, it is expected that 1 year will pass after the previous rhinoplasty surgery. The reason for this is that the new shape of the nose becomes clear, edema and tenderness disappear, but the decision on this issue should be made on a case-by-case basis after the examination.
With the secondary rhinoplasty operation, nasal curvature, excessive nose lift, asymmetrical and pointed tip of the nose, arch nose deformities, nostril asymmetry, cartilage protrusion and breathing problems can be solved.
The surgery can be done in any season. However, after the operation in the summer months, the patient should take care to protect himself from the sun, not to wear glasses until he is completely healed, and not to enter the pool in the early period.
