Rhinoplasty

The nose sits at the center of the face and carries the airway. Good rhinoplasty changes its shape without costing a breath.

Rhinoplasty reshapes the bone and cartilage of the nose to change its size, profile, tip or symmetry, and when combined with septoplasty it also straightens the inner wall that divides the airway. In a prospective study of 4,978 patients, 0.7 percent had a major complication within 30 days, hematoma and infection being the most frequent (Layliev and colleagues, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, 2017). Around one patient in ten asks for a revision in the years after, a figure that rises after earlier nasal surgery or injury. In a multicenter study of septorhinoplasty, patient-rated satisfaction with the nose rose from 32.3 to 69.8 out of 100. Swelling settles over a year, and the final shape needs that long to show. This page explains the types of rhinoplasty, who is suited, planning, open and closed techniques, cartilage grafts, breathing, risks, the operation day, recovery, revision, and how patients from abroad arrange rhinoplasty at Biruni Hospital in Istanbul.

What rhinoplasty is

Rhinoplasty changes more than looks. It changes the airway, and every step of the plan has to protect breathing.

Who is suited

Age and health

Surgery refines the nose a patient has. It does not transplant another person's nose onto a different face.

Consultation and planning

What we assess

A chin that sits back makes the nose look bigger. In some faces, a small chin implant or filler balances the profile better than a larger nasal reduction.

Expectations and the mirror

Some worries about the nose come from the mind more than the nose.

A Belgian study of 226 people seeking rhinoplasty found that 33 percent showed at least moderate symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder, a condition in which a person becomes preoccupied with a slight or imagined flaw, and the severity of those symptoms bore no relation to how the nose looked to independent observers (Picavet and colleagues, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 2011). A later multicenter German study found similar rates and showed that these patients gained less from surgery, even when the operation went well (Hohenberger and colleagues, Laryngoscope, 2024). We therefore ask every patient a short set of screening questions, and when the answers suggest the worry runs deeper than the nose, we recommend a talk with a psychologist first, because an operation cannot fix a distress that the mirror did not cause.

Saying no is part of the job.

Open and closed rhinoplasty

Open surgery gives the surgeon a direct view. Closed surgery leaves no outside scar and causes a little less tip swelling.

Cartilage grafts

Breathing and the septum

Results for breathing

Why the tip decides

Surgeons debate the bridge. Patients notice the tip.

The tip carries the most delicate cartilages, the thinnest support and the greatest variation in skin between people, so it shows small errors that a hump never would. A series of 369 consecutive cosmetic rhinoplasties linked failure to address the tip at the first operation to more dissatisfaction, along with earlier nasal surgery, facial fracture and complications (Neaman and colleagues, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, 2013). A plan that treats the tip together with the bridge gives a nose that looks balanced from every angle.

Balance beats size.

Risks

• Bruising and swelling around the eyes in the first two weeks, fading from purple to yellow.
• Nosebleeds for a few days, light and self-limiting in nearly all patients.
• Numbness of the tip and upper lip, returning over weeks to months.

Among 4,978 rhinoplasty patients, the major complication rate reached 0.58 percent for rhinoplasty alone and rose to 2.09 percent when two other body areas were operated in the same session. Patients aged 40 and over carried about twice the risk (Layliev and colleagues, 2017).

Common questions

Combining procedures

The operation day

Before you leave

We check the dressing, explain splint care, and give a direct number for questions at any hour.

Recovery week by week

Timeline

Protecting the result

Avoid blowing the nose hard, bending with the head down and direct sun on the bruised skin during the first weeks.

Patience with swelling

The nose keeps changing for a year.

Swelling leaves the bridge first and the tip last, and thick-skinned noses hold it longest. Patients who judge the result at one month often feel disappointed and then pleased at six. Morning swelling that fades by evening belongs to normal healing.

Photographs help. We take them at each visit.

Revision rhinoplasty

What revision involves

For patients from abroad

Plan for seven to ten days in Istanbul. The splint comes off on day seven, and the flight home follows that visit.

After you return

One coordinator from the international patients office handles arrangements from the first message through discharge and answers the same WhatsApp number after you return. The office works in English, Arabic, French, Russian, Serbian, Romanian and Spanish and books interpreters for other languages, and it arranges the visa invitation letter, airport transfers, daily transport and accommodation near the hospital. Halal, vegetarian and diabetic meals, a prayer room on site, and a female physician on request wherever the rota allows.

Cost

Rhinoplasty is priced as one package, and revision surgery is quoted separately.