Dr. Zewert:  Rhinoplasty is also known as nose reshaping, nasal reshaping, or even a nose job. My philosophy on rhinoplasty uh.. in general is “less is more.” And in no other cosmetic procedure is that axiom more appropriate.

Dr. Zewert:  You let me know if it’s right for you!

Heidi Kitchen:  When he looked at my nose, he pointed out a lot of the good things that he liked about it. Like he was like, “Oh, this part’s really feminine. And the tip’s really nice.” And he’s like, “You know what? It’s not that bad, but I see how we can make it a little better. You know, we can make this and this. And then I really feel like I can just give you what you want.”

Dr. Zewert:  “You have a very, very straight nose, and profile. And if you notice, you’re a little bit askew.”

Dr. Zewert:  It’s not the most feminine nose. So she wants it a little bit more feminized.

Dr. Zewert:  We really spend a lot of time, my staff and I talking with the patient about reshaping their nose. Sometimes it’s a relatively small procedure that we need to do, like narrowing the base of the nose. We can do an in-office procedure and the patient will recover extremely quickly with little or no pain.

Dr. Zewert:  That tip’s just gorgeous! I don’t want to do anything to that tip! What I want to do is inset everything back a millimeter or two. And if we get three, great, if we don’t, you know, that’s okay.

Dr. Zewert:  Now there is more pain associated with manipulating the bones of the nose. And sometimes we have to do that. Especially with patients who have what we call a dorsal hump, or a bump on the top of their nose. The bony portion ends right about here, and the cartilage starts at that portion. So we want actually just a hint underneath of that natural anatomy. But obviously, we’re going to take out all the excess bone.

Heidi Kitchen:  Uhm hm.

Heidi Kitchen:  I was on the fence about the procedure, because I didn’t know what was going to go on. And then I spoke with Dr. Zewert, and he told me that he could perform the procedure as a closed rhinoplasty, where the incision would be made inside the nose. And he could remove the dorsal hump. And so that pushed me over to where I wanted it. I was confident about getting the procedure.

Dr. Zewert:  We’re going to make a small incision in this area of the nose. And that incision is the only externally visible incision on your nose. But obviously we’re going to give you a very feminine, but very, very natural appearance. And I think that’s very important to you, and it’s very important to me as well.

Heidi Kitchen:  Right, a perfect balance!

Dr. Zewert:  Exactly.

Dr. Zewert:  But her nasal tip is pretty narrow actually. She’s going to do really well. Okay, okay. Right.

Dr. Zewert:  With that procedure the recovery time is a little bit longer. I typically tell the patients to take a week off from work. The interesting part of rhinoplasty is that often we will help the function. The ability to breathe through the nose better with the rhinoplasty. And we can combine the cosmetic portion of rhinoplasty with that functional portion.

Heidi Kitchen:  I see plastic surgery in a whole new light now. I see that, you know, it doesn’t have to be a really big, big change. It could just be a little subtle change. And it could create a lot of confidence in a person.

Dr. Zewert:  Rhinoplasty is dynamic. The nose changes shape in time, so it’s very important that the surgeon understand that what he does today has to age like a fine wine. It has to get better with time. And that’s critical to my philosophy of rhinoplasty.