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First, consider this: what good is a pretty nose if you can’t use it to breathe? Frequently, doing cosmetic surgery on the nose means making it smaller. As such, there is less room to breath in the nose than there was prior to the procedure. There are special techniques that can be performed at the time of rhinoplasty to help preserve and optimize breathing through the nose at the same time as your nose job. Often this means the placement of “spreader grafts,” which help to straighten the nose and keep certain areas of the nose open when the nasal bones are broken and moved inward. This area is called the internal nasal valve and is one of the breathing gateways into the nasal passage.

There is also something called the external nasal valve, which is an area on the nose sidewall that can collapse when a person breathes in. Collapse of this area can occur due to excessive removal of nasal cartilage or can be an inherent problem with the nose prior to surgery. This is addressed with cartilage grafting.

Then there is the part that deals with a deviated septum. This is a very common problem and does not always cause significant breathing problems. However, when you make the nose smaller or take down a bump, these small septum problems can become magnified. The treatment for this is septoplasty, which is a straightening of the septum.

The final component is the pair of inferior turbinates. These bones are covered with a lining inside of the nose and is often swollen in people with chronic allergies. The turbinates are a very common cause of trouble with nasal breathing and can be shrunken at the time of rhinoplasty. There are many ways to accomplish this. Dr. White chooses to perform “submucous resection,” with a turbinate blade, which is a sort of minimally invasive liposuction technique from the inside of the turbinate that cuts down on bleeding and preserves the natural lining of the nose. This technique also helps to prevent the development of “empty nose syndrome,” which happens when a surgeon removes too much turbinate. Empty nose syndrome describes the sensation of inability to breathe through the nose, despite there being more space to breathe!

Learn more about a functional rhinoplasty in North Miami

Dr. White has patients from North Miami and around the world who come to him for his unique expertise in rhinoplasty. Breathing better starts with researching your plastic surgeon and the procedure itself. Our staff at ARC Plastic Surgery is happy to sit down with you and go through the entire process from start to finish.


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