Non-Surgical Nose Jobs

Non-Surgical Nose Jobs
www.skinsavvy.fromyourdoctor.com
by Nelson Lee Novick, MD, FAAD, FAACS

You’ve stared at your nose in the mirror for years wishing that something could be done to improve the bump on the bridge, eliminate the indentations along the surface, or raise up a downturned tip. But, you could never gather up the courage or the money for a surgical “nose job,” or what doctors call “rhinoplasty.” Or maybe you just couldn’t bear the thought of a long, painful recovery or afford the added expense of a two-week recuperative downtime away from work. Now, with a completely non-surgical nose job, you just might be able to have your cake and eat it.

A state-of-the-art, soft-tissue volumizing material, Radiesse, and the fillers, Juvederm, and Restylane, may be just the answer for you. All three are FDA-approved materials, and each material’s safety has been well established in extensive human use in the United States as well as in many parts of the world where they were available long before their introduction here.

Your doctor may choose to use only one of these materials or may combine them. Radiesse, for example, may be injected more deeply to supply support to overlying tissue, while the hyaluronic acid products may be selected in order to achieve more superficial, finer shaping.

The precise combination chosen will often depend upon physician preference and the specific types of irregularities being treated. Since the risk of local allergy is so low, neither Radiesse, a synthetic bone-like material made up of calcium hyroxylapatite, nor Juvederm and Restylane, synthetically produced hyaluronic acid derivatives, require pre-treatment skin testing. If you wish, you may literally be treated at the time of your initial consultation, something I frequently do in my practice.

Prior to the procedure, the area to be treated is injected with a mixture of diluted volumes of lidocaine, a fast-acting local anesthetic, and epinephrine, a blood vessel constrictor. The addition of the epinephrine serves to reduce the likelihood of oozing from the injection sites and of bruising afterward. Once the area is numb, the volumizer or filler is injected and then molded like clay into place to correct the deformity or irregularity. The whole procedure usually takes only about five minutes to complete, and to the delight of the patient, in most cases, the results are immediate. Afterward, you may experience some redness, mild swelling, and tenderness, which may last one to three days. Occasionally, despite the epinephrine, you may develop some bruising that can take several days to fade, but is easily coverable with proper masking makeup.

For a drooping nasal tip, a very common occurrence with aging or following pregnancy, tiny droplets of Botox Cosmetic, which have been used so successfully to treat the dynamic wrinkles of the face, are injected directly into the crevasses on each side of the nose as well as to the base of nose where it joins the upper lip. This gently weakens those muscles responsible for pulling the nose downward and permits the small muscles higher up along the nose to draw the tip upward unopposed. The net result is that the tip is repositioned to a more youthful appearance.

Next, a small amount of Radiesse placed along the base of the nose serves to buttress the tip upward and reinforce the effects of the Botox Cosmetic, contributing to a much longer-lasting result than would be achieved with Botox alone.

To smooth a bump or hump on the bridge of the nose, Radiesse is my augmenting agent of first choice. A tiny amount layered between bridge and the root of the nose can straighten a bent or hooked appearance with immediate and often dramatic improvement. The before and after photos shown here were taken just ten minutes apart.

The results with Radiesse may last twelve to eighteen months and those of Juvederm and Restylane for eight to twelve months before a touchup may be necessary. Depending upon the area of the country and what materials are used, a non-surgical nose job may cost between $750 and $1500.

Your doctor will discuss with you whether non-surgical rhinoplasty is appropriate for you, the benefits of each agent, and the best material or combination of injectables for your particular needs. So what are you waiting for?
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