Will Rhinoplasty Make My Crooked Nose Straight?

Q: I am in the beginning stages of considering the possibility of rhinoplasty procedure.  A large nose runs in my family, but what I’m most unhappy with is that my nose is slightly crooked.  I also wouldn’t mind some size adjustment, both length and width.  I am truly unsure of what potential costs for something like this may be.  I am 30, single and have limited income.  Can you provide me with more information that may be helpful to me at this point in my process?  I would certainly consider a consultation, and would be extremely interested in seeing photos of what you could do with me, if possible.

A: Rhinoplasty for the crooked nose is one of the more challenging nose operations. This is because a very crooked nose is the result of more than one part of the structural anatomy that accounts for why the nose is not straight. It usually involves a deviated septum, middle vault asymmetry and right down to a twisted tip. It is not usually possible to just fix a deviated septum and have the whole nose.then become straight. Crooked noses involve every cartilaginous element and often the bone as well. For these reasons, correction of a crooked nose involves a full septorhinoplasty.

While computer imaging can make a crooked nose perfectly straight, rhinoplasty surgery is not like Photoshop. It is best to think of a straighter but not perfect crooked nose result than to undergo surgery with the expectation that it will be perfectly straight. While that is the goal, there is a reason (bent and deformed cartilages) that the nose was crooked to start with. And cartilage does have memory so some relapse or recoil may occur even out to 6 months after surgery.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis Indiana