Dr. Shervin Naderi explains why he uses general anesthesia for rhinoplasty in hospital settings, what recovery looks like (a week off work, splint removed around day seven), and shares Jennifer's experience with a closed rhinoplasty at Fair Oaks Hospital that took about an hour and left minimal bruising.
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Is there any anesthesia required for any of these closed or open rhinoplasty procedures that you've discussed today?
Rhinoplasty can be done with all sorts of anesthesia. The safest way is to use safe general anesthesia by board certified anesthesiologists. I don't operate in surgery centers or office settings to cut cost. I think this is elective surgery and you want to make sure you do everything you can to be as safe as possible. I operate at major hospitals with board certified anesthesiologists controlling and monitoring the patient. General anesthesia is extremely safe. It's safer than driving to the office these days on a major road. And that puts a lot of patients minds at ease. So you're asleep, you don't feel a thing, you don't remember a thing, you go home the same day, I see the patients the following day in my office just to check up on them. And then we'll go from there a few days later, a few weeks later, at a month, three, six and 12 months until it's pretty much said and done. But the recovery is fairly smooth. Other than some bruising, some swelling, it's not a very painful surgery. And I don't pack the nose. That's one of the things that people that have had rhinoplasty in the past or, you know, done by outside countries, they get their nose packed and it's very painful, it's not necessary. If you do a proper technique and stay in the proper planes and get very little bleeding, there's no reason to pack the nose.
Yes, indeed. Not to mention, as you touched on earlier as well, Dr. Naderi, and correct me if I'm wrong, you're looking at a very quick recovery time. You're looking at a matter of days or a week before one can go back to work and go back to activities.
Most patients take a week off. If we operate on a Friday, for example, two weekends and a week, that's plenty of time to recover. There's a small splint that stays on the nose for about seven days. When that comes off, there may be still a little bit of bruises left, but it's light enough that you can cover with makeup at that point. At about the day eight or nine, you can certainly return back to work. The nose is going to look a lot better than before, but it's not the final result. Next week, next month, next year gets better and better, but you don't have to wait around for that final result. At the first week you can start enjoying the changes. And by the second week, really, nobody should be able to tell that you had any surgery done.
We're now going to meet those two patients of Dr. Naderi that we had mentioned earlier. Welcome, Jennifer.
Hi.
It's great to have you. We always appreciate it when patients take the time in their busy lives and schedules to come down and share some of their experiences with us. And on that note, I wanted to begin by asking you, what problem or problems, if any, were you experiencing with your nose or your face where you felt the need to seek out a facial plastic surgeon?
My nose was the one thing that stood out to me when I looked into the mirror, when I saw myself in photographs. And I didn't like that. You know, I wanted to have my eyes or my lips. Other things stand out first. And. And so it wasn't that I was seeking a major change in my appearance, but I wanted my nose to fit better with the rest of my face.
So what exactly did you have done?
The tip of my nose was very bulbous. In my opinion, there was no change done to the bone structure of the nose, but the tip was brought down in size. And like I said, it makes me feel better about the way that I look overall.
So I take it you went to Dr. Naderi and you had a rhinoplasty procedure done?
I had a rhinoplasty done, what he's referred to as a closed rhinoplasty. So there were no incisions. Everything was done from the inside. But basically what he did was take down the overall size and the roundness or the bulbousness of the tip of my nose, making it appear to me more congruent with the rest of my face and not the thing that stood out to me most when I looked in the mirror, saw myself in photographs.
Well, you certainly look very happy. Let me ask you, Jennifer, how long did this procedure take?
I believe it was an hour.
That's it?
That's it. I was at Fair Oaks Hospital, which has a great new surgical wing. They took great care of me. I was home that evening and got a good night's sleep the next morning, came into the office. He removed some bandages, et cetera. I had about a week and a small splint afterwards, which he removed. I had no bruising. Downtime is quite minimal. And again, I'm very happy, very happy that I went through with the procedure.
Well, you certainly, again, seem very pleased with the results. Look like a new you, so to speak, right?
Yes, but without losing the old me.
That's the best combo isn't it?
It is.
On that note, I'd like to thank you, Jenna, for coming down and sharing some of your experiences with us.
