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Can you get a nose job on the NHS?

Not for appearance alone. The NHS website puts cosmetic surgery outside routine provision and says nose reshaping may be provided if it is needed to help you breathe. The criteria that decide a particular case are written lower down, and they do not agree with each other. This page quotes four of those documents by name, with the version and date of each that carries one: two integrated care board policies from England, the one national referral protocol in Scotland, and an NHS England policy written for members of the Armed Forces and their families. Wales and Northern Ireland run their own arrangements and were not read for this page.

The short answers

The national starting point: Not routinely providedThe NHS website states that cosmetic surgery is not routinely provided on the NHS, and that it may occasionally be provided for psychological or other health reasons. It sets out no criteria and names no decider.
The nose specifically: Breathing, not appearanceThe NHS page on nose reshaping says the operation is not usually available on the NHS for cosmetic reasons, but may be provided if it is needed to help you breathe.
Who writes the criteria: Boards, and Scotland nationallyIn England integrated care boards publish their own nasal surgery policies, each with its own reference, version and date. NHS Scotland publishes one national referral protocol. Two board policies and that protocol are quoted here, together with an NHS England policy written for the Armed Forces.
Written in as refusals: Revision, and snoringSurgery for someone unhappy with a previous operation is refused or restricted in three of the four documents, and two of those add that it makes no difference whether the first operation was provided by the NHS or by somebody else. Two of the four also name surgery to stop snoring.

No single body answers the question. What decides a case is a named policy with a reference, a version and a date, and those policies do not match one another.

What the national pages actually say

The NHS website states that cosmetic surgery is not routinely provided on the NHS, and may occasionally be provided for psychological or other health reasons. Nose reshaping is one of its examples, qualified by breathing problems. Its page on the operation puts it more narrowly: not usually available for cosmetic reasons, but it may be provided if it is needed to help you breathe.

Neither page sets out criteria or names who decides. That layer sits lower down: in England integrated care boards publish their own nasal surgery policies, while Scotland has one national protocol. Four documents were read here.

Two English boards, in their own terms

Policy CP033, version 3.0, November 2024, from the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire board, splits them. Septoplasty is funded through criteria-based access, on criteria including symptomatic airway obstruction significantly affecting daily activities. Rhinoplasty and septorhinoplasty are not. Done solely to correct deformity and the cosmetic appearance of the nose, the policy says, they are not normally funded, and three named situations need an exceptional funding request before surgery.

Post-traumatic injury causing continuous obstruction of both sides, with significant bony deviation causing functional impairment.
Deformity from a cleft lip or palate, or another congenital craniofacial deformity, causing significant functional impairment.
Symptomatic deformity from collapse of the nasal bony structure secondary to vasculitis or auto-immune disease.

The three-month trial is not a rhinoplasty threshold

A three-month trial of a corticosteroid nasal spray and saline irrigation is repeated everywhere as a condition for nose surgery. In CP033 it belongs to septoplasty, and specifically to chronic rhinosinusitis, handled under that board's separate policy before any secondary care referral. It is attached to rhinoplasty nowhere in that document.

Coventry and Warwickshire gets there another way. Its policy COM/35, version 2, approved on 6 November 2024, puts all three operations under prior approval, says they will not be funded for cosmetic reasons, and funds them for four conditions: deformity causing significant blockage, deformity associated with specific recognised facial congenital disorders, significant deformity in someone not complaining of obstruction but with documented recent trauma, and trauma causing deformity in childhood.

Scotland writes one protocol

NHS Scotland's national referral protocol lists all procedures whose primary aim is to alter the appearance of the nose among those not routinely provided. Its indication for referral needs both halves: a deviated nose and a functional problem of the nasal airway. After injury, it says procedures to alter appearance will usually be supported if the patient sought initial medical attention within one year of the injury.

What that protocol does not contain is a conservative-treatment period, of any length, anywhere. A required months-long trial before referral therefore belongs to whichever document imposes it.

Document	The window	What it runs between
NHS Scotland protocol	One year	The injury and first medical attention
Coventry and Warwickshire, COM/35 v2	18 months	The trauma and the referral
NHS England ENT policy, Armed Forces	Two years	The trauma and a point the policy leaves unstated

Snoring and revision are written in as refusals

The two English boards and the Armed Forces policy agree most clearly about what they will not pay for. CP033 says funding will not normally be approved for people unhappy with the outcome of previous surgery, whether NHS or private, nor for snoring.

If the patient has had previous nasal surgery, revision will only be undertaken for functional reasons and not to improve appearance.

NHS Coventry and Warwickshire ICB, policy COM/35, version 2

An NHS England ENT commissioning policy, last updated on 20 March 2026, lists snoring surgery and aesthetic change among nasal surgery it does not routinely fund, and restricts revision to functional improvement. It says of itself that it applies to members of the Armed Forces and their families, which is worth knowing before anybody cites it as a rule for everybody.

A refusal here is a funding decision

None of these documents says an operation would not help. They say who has agreed to pay, against written criteria. Both English policies keep a route open beyond those criteria, through a funding request submitted by a consultant.

Finding the policy that governs your own case

Two board policies are not the English position. There are dozens of boards, each with its own document and version, and the one that counts covers the patient's address. Wales and Northern Ireland run their own arrangements, which were not read here. Boards do publish these policies, though not always on an nhs.uk address, and the board name with the words nasal surgery policy reaches one.

Whether an operation would improve a blocked nose is a separate question from who pays: a randomised trial of septoplasty is read elsewhere here, and the breathing guide covers what blocks a nose. Where shape and airway are addressed together the operation is septorhinoplasty and the consultation checklist has room for the answers.

Questions to ask a surgeon

Take these to a consultation. The consultation checklist is built to be printed and written on, and our doctors will answer questions sent through the site before you travel.

Which board or health authority covers my address, and what is the reference and version of its nasal surgery policy?
Which criterion in that policy is my case being argued under, and is the evidence for it in my notes?
Is the operation being proposed a septoplasty, a rhinoplasty or a septorhinoplasty, and does the policy treat them differently?
Does my funding route need approval before surgery, and who submits the application?
If I do not meet the written criteria, is there an exceptional or individual funding route, and would you support one?
Has any conservative treatment period been required of me, and is it recorded with dates?

Sources

Every source below was opened and checked. We link to health authorities, peer-reviewed journals and professional bodies, and to nothing else.

Nose reshaping (rhinoplasty)NHS, United KingdomNational health authority overview of what the operation involves, recovery and risks.
Is cosmetic surgery available on the NHS?NHS, United KingdomNational health authority page stating that cosmetic surgery is not routinely provided on the NHS, and may occasionally be provided for psychological or other health reasons. It lists nose reshaping among its examples, qualified by breathing problems, and sets out no criteria and no decider.
Nasal Surgery: Septoplasty, Septorhinoplasty, Rhinoplasty (BSW-ICB-CP033, version 3.0)NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care BoardAn English commissioning board's funding policy, version 3.0 of November 2024. Septoplasty is funded through criteria-based access; rhinoplasty and septorhinoplasty done solely for deformity and cosmetic appearance are not normally funded and need an exceptional funding request approved before surgery, in three named situations. It also refuses funding for snoring and for dissatisfaction with previous surgery, NHS or private.
Policy for Rhinoplasty/Septorhinoplasty/Septoplasty (COM/35, version 2)NHS Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care BoardA second English commissioning board's funding policy, version 2, approved by the board on 6 November 2024. It places all three operations under prior approval, states that they will not be funded for cosmetic reasons, lists four funded conditions, and limits revision after previous nasal surgery to functional reasons.
Clinical commissioning policy: ear, nose and throat (ENT) proceduresNHS EnglandAn NHS England commissioning policy, last updated 20 March 2026, which states on its own face that it applies to members of the Armed Forces and their families. It lists nasal surgery as not routinely funded to stop snoring, to change the aesthetic appearance of the nose, or where patients are unhappy with previous surgery, and allows revision only for functional improvement.
Rhinoplasty: National Referral ProtocolNHS Scotland, Right DecisionsScotland's single national referral protocol for rhinoplasty. It lists all procedures whose primary aim is to alter the appearance of the nose among those not routinely provided, requires both a deviated nose and a functional airway problem for referral, supports post-injury appearance procedures where medical attention was sought within one year, and states that simple cosmetic rhinoplasty will not be supported. It contains no conservative-treatment period and carries no version number or date.