Rhinoplasty in Istanbul

What rhinoplasty is

Rhinoplasty is an operation that reshapes the nasal framework: the bones at the top, the cartilage below, and the septum that divides the two airways. The skin is redraped over whatever shape the framework is given.

It is normally performed under general anaesthesia, with incisions inside the nostrils. An open approach adds a short cut across the strip of skin between the nostrils, which lifts the soft tissue and exposes the framework.

Which approach a surgeon uses is decided from the anatomy and from their own practice, not from a brochure. Open and closed are compared separately.

What it can change, and what it cannot

Four concerns account for most first operations. Each is a change to the framework under the skin.

• A hump on the bridge. Reducing it means rebuilding the middle third, because the cartilages can otherwise drop away.
• The tip. Shape, projection and rotation are altered mainly by suturing and repositioning cartilage, because removing too much is a recognised cause of later pinching and breathing difficulty.
• Width, both at the bony vault and at the nostril base.
• A nose that sits off centre, which is usually crooked because the septum is bent.

Straightening the outside of a crooked nose therefore means straightening the septum too. Breathing is a separate assessment, made by internal examination rather than from photographs alone.

Surgery does not change skin thickness, and skin thickness is the limit on all four. Thick skin conceals fine cartilage work and holds swelling longer, which is why the tip is the slowest area to settle.

Who rhinoplasty suits, and who decides

A surgeon will assess suitability in person, and no page can do it. These are the factors that come up most often.

• Facial growth complete. The nasal skeleton is generally considered developed from around age 15 in females and 17 in males.
• Fitness for general anaesthesia, assessed before the operation rather than on the day.
• One or two concerns the patient can describe clearly, rather than a general wish to look different.
• An understanding that the shape takes a year or more to settle, and that the weeks before that are not the result.
• Nobody else pushing the decision.

Someone who has already had rhinoplasty is considering revision surgery instead. Scar tissue, altered anatomy and reduced native cartilage make it technically harder than primary surgery.

Distress about appearance that is out of proportion to the physical finding is not treated by surgery, and can be made worse by it. A consultation that says so is doing its job.

What is different about having it in Istanbul

The operation is the same operation. What changes is everything around it: the surgeon lives in another country, the aftercare crosses a border, and the consent conversation may happen in a second language.

Plan for 7 to 10 days in the city: long enough for surgery, splint removal and a review before flying. A shorter trip means the review that would have caught a problem does not happen.

The weeks after the flight home are the ones with no clinic within reach. In one multi-institutional analysis of 835 patients, reoperation was recorded in 2.3 percent and superficial incisional infection in 1.1 percent.

Those are small percentages of a large series, not a prediction. They are the reason to settle in writing, before booking, which named person answers a clinical question once you are home, and in what language.

Recovery sets out the milestones week by week, and cost sets out what a quote has to answer before it can be compared with another one.

The risks, and the year afterwards

The national health authority sets out the recognised risks, rather than anyone selling the operation. This site adds the last two below.

• Breathing difficulty, usually temporary but occasionally permanent.
• A stiff and numb nose, and an altered sense of smell.
• Nosebleeds, excessive bleeding and blood clots.
• Damage to the cartilage wall between the nostrils.
• Infection, and a reaction to the anaesthetic.
• Scarring at the columella after an open approach. Usually inconspicuous once mature, but it is a real scar.
• Dissatisfaction with the aesthetic result, and the possibility of needing revision surgery.

The shape itself takes time to arrive. The result is generally considered settled at twelve to eighteen months, longer with thick skin and longer again after revision surgery.