A 10 year followup on a secondary rhinoplasty. Our patient had initially had a rhinoplasty in California 16 years before and did well until her young infant accidently “head-butted” her in the nose and it collapsed, making it difficult for her to breath. There was a technique called the “Goldman tip” where the cartilages were cut through to give more definition of the tip. Unfortunately, this tends to weaken the nose and was prone to pinching of the tip and collapse, as we have seen here. In my training at the University of Michigan we were taught to strengthen the nose, added grafts were needed and performing “non-destructive” tip rhinoplasty, where the structure of the nose is strengthened and not weakened at the time of surgery. He nose had collapsed inside and she needed an open rhinoplasty with placement of cartilage grafts harvested from the septum to rebuild the lower alar cartilages, as well as to hold open the upper lateral cartilages (like an internal “breath rite” strip) to support the breathing. Although her external appearance has not changed drastically, this corrected the internal collapse of the nose and corrected her breathing difficulties. She stopped by to see us today for another unrelated problem and was kind enough to consent to us using her photos and story.
Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery Specialist
"I treat my patients like I would treat
- Jonathan D. Hall, MD, FACSmembers of my own family."
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