Before You Consider Rhinoplasty, Consider this Instead…

If you’re a selfie enthusiast (and it seems as though almost everyone is these days), you may have become more aware of your features, but not in a good way. Earlier this year, forty-two percent of the members of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons reported an increase in “patients seeking cosmetic procedures for the purpose of improving how they look on social media platforms.” Chief among their complaints: the nose.

We’re all about rhinoplasty at our practice. In fact, our founder, Dr George Marcells is called the “master of rhinoplasty” by his patients and peers. Despite that fact, “There are some patients for whom rhinoplasty is simply not necessary,” he says. “They don’t need a nose job. They need a course in taking better selfies.”

6 Reasons for Rhinoplasty

The decision to have your nose reshaped for aesthetic or functional reasons can be life changing in many ways. For this reason, it’s important that patients are clear about why they want nose surgery and what they hope it will achieve. “Realistic goals and expectations are essential to a good rhinoplasty outcome,” says Dr Marcells.

The reasons for surgery that he considers compelling are

• Correct congenital issues

• Repair an injury due to trauma

• Correct breathing issues as a result of a deviated septum

• Enhancing (rather than perfecting) the aesthetics of the nose

Another reason to have surgery on your nose is to correct problems with a previous surgery. This procedure is called revision rhinoplasty. It seeks to correct aesthetic and/or functional issues.

Three Reasons Your Nose Doesn’t Shine in Selfies

Phone photos play havoc with your nose and the rest of your features for a variety of reasons:

• The lighting is bad
• The angle is bad
• The distance between your face and camera is too short

This third factor is particularly thorny. “If the camera point is closer to something that projects out, like your nose, it is going to make everything that is closer to that camera look bigger compared to the rest of the face,” said Boris Paskhover, co-author of a research study on Nasal Distortion in Short Distance Photographs: The Selfie Effect.

5 Tips for Better Selfies

We don’t pretend to be photo experts, but we have picked up some tips along the way that will help your selfies (and your nose in those selfies) be Instagram-ready. According to Paskover’s findings, for example:

• Don’t Go Short – Photos taken 30cm’s from the face increases the size of the nose up to 30%.

• Go Long – Photos taken from a distance of 12cm’s result in no visible difference in nose size.

• Natural lighting makes circles and shadows disappear.

• Use Snapchat and Instagram filter apps to tweak your photos (just like the Kardashians do).

• Practice to get perfect

If You’re Ready for Rhinoplasty

Sometimes, only rhinoplasty will do. If you would like to know more about nose surgery and how it can improve many aspects of your life (including selfies!), we hope you’ll contact us and make an appointment to visit our practice soon.