RHINOPLASTY FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Bellevue & Seattle

It depends on what you want done. If it is something simple in the tip it could range from 5000- 7500 more or less. If you want a regular Rhinoplasty – Nose Plastic Surgery we would charge between 6500-9500. Revisions are more time consuming and risky and are more than the regular rhinoplasty depending on what needs to be done. Ultimately how long it takes is a good general guiding prinicple.

I prefer the open approach as you can see the structures in their native position and working with the structures is much easier. I was trained in Beverly Hills at University of Southern California. Some of our teachers were Dr. Paul Nassif, Dr. Mark Berman, Dr. Stephen Pincus, Dr. Francis Palmer, Dr. Adrian Yi, etc. Most of these professors preferred the open approach. The disadvantage of this approach is the scar at the columella and the prolonged healing that most closed approach advocates cite. I think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. The closed approach uses the transfixion, marginal and intercartilaginous incisions to expose the nasal tip. This approach is too constraining and results are sacrificed in my opinion.

We mostly say one week. From the literature, the tissues have about 20% healing at 2 weeks, 60% at 6 weeks, and 80-90% at 6 months. Externally most of your bruising and swelling will be resolved at one week. We have less bruising because you use special instruments to reduce the trauma. Our specialized instruments reduce the damage to the surrounding structures especially with the nasal bone shaping

We usually take them out at 5-7 days, usually 6 days. If your cleaning is exceptional you can get them removed at 5 days but we generally recommend at least 6 days.

The pain really is variable. Some people have more pain than others. Some have very little pain surprisingly. We usually prescribe Percocet for pain. The other medications we prescribe our an antibiotic like clindamycin or keflex depending on your allergies. Usually people do not use all of the pain medication that we prescribe. We have had many people not take any of the percocet.

Usually we use IV sedation or anesthesia through your veins. General anesthesia is another option. We discuss all the options with you. With IV sedation, we give your medications that will help sedate you through your veins. You will not need to be placed under general anesthesia and have a breathing tube placed. The advantages with IV sedation are that: you don’t need a breathing tube which can have many complications with the airway; your chance for a deep vein thrombosis will be lower; your chance for nausea can be much lower; your recovery can be much faster. The disadvantages are that you will not be completely out of it compared to general anesthesia. Most all people however do not remember a single thing during the procedure and most of what people remember is during the recovery period.