About rhinoplasty for treating breathing problems
Your nose, though it looks simple on the outside, actually has a complex system of airways, tissue and other structures within it that enable you to breathe correctly. Many people who have a problem with their nose have difficulty breathing. For example, people with a deviated septum may have significant problems breathing.
Rhinoplasty is one such recommended way of treating such problems. Whilst rhinoplasty is often a cosmetic procedure, rhinoplasty also has significant health benefits for people.
Let’s take a look at what rhinoplasty can fix, other than the appearance of the nose.
Injuries
Some people might suffer injuries that affect the structure of their nose. For example, somebody involved in a contact sport might suffer several broken noses, leading to significant and visible damage.
While the visibility of the damage might be a problem for many people, it may also lead to breathing issues. Cosmetic surgeons can not only make the nose look better, they can quite often fix the structure of the nose internally, allowing it to function normally once again.
This is something you will have to consult with a surgeon about. If you have suffered some significant damage to your nose, such as from a car crash, the aforementioned contact sports or otherwise, speaking to a physician about it might help you to get it restored so that you can breathe easily again.
Deviated Septum
The septum is the part of your nose that divides one nostril from the other. When it is improperly aligned, it can cause difficulty breathing and, in some cases, the difficulty can be significant. It could potentially lead to conditions such as sleep apnoea, for instance.
Rhinoplasty has within its techniques methods that can be used to correct the deviated septum, making the nose function as it properly should. Nasal septoplasty, performed together with rhinoplasty, can address issues relating to nasal obstruction. For people who were born with a deviated septum, this can correct the breathing issues and the cosmetic issues in the space of one procedure.
Getting the Surgery
If you are worried about the stay at hospital, you will probably only need to stay overnight after having a rhinoplasty. The surgery is done as an inpatient procedure under a combination of local and general anaesthesia. After you are done, you will wear a splint on the nose for around two weeks’ time. You will have some bruising and swelling, but this is normal and nothing to be concerned about.
Pain should be well controlled afterwards. Standard pain medications will usually be needed for the first few days after surgery, together with ice packs which also help to alleviate pain and swelling.
Around two weeks after surgery you will notice that the bruising goes away and within six weeks, you should start to notice the swelling subside. Even when rhinoplasty is performed as a functional procedure to improve breathing, you will likely also notice that the appearance of your nose has improved afterwards. As the trauma from the surgery fades, this will only become more apparent.
Once everything is healed, if you had your septum straightened or another procedure to improve airflow, you should start to notice the difference right away. For some people, this is likely one of the procedures where, upon having it done, they will wonder why they waited so long.
Issues with the alignment of the nose and other types of problems that cause difficulty breathing should be looked at by a doctor. Even though people may be accustomed to living with these issues, there may be no reason for them to go on doing so at all. A routine surgical procedure may be all that it takes to fix the problem for good and vastly improve the patient’s quality of life.