How Accurate Is Computer Imaging for Rhinoplasty?

I want to talk about one of my pet peeves, and that is computer imaging when it comes to rhinoplasty. A lot of patients get so hung up on the computer imaging, and they think that you can make these minor, minor, minor little adjustments using Photoshop and then it'll translate into the final result. That's just not true.

Computer imaging is done to give you an idea, but no nose is a screw. No plastic surgeon has a screwdriver. We cannot make tiny little adjustments. We can't kind of turn something a half a turn, a quarter turn, take the tip up just a little bit, bring it down a little bit. It doesn't happen. You have to have realistic expectations.

The other part of it is people, especially on the East Coast, are very afraid of tip position changes, and they don't understand that the tip must come up, must be supported, because if it doesn't come up, it'll be droopy. If you do not lift the tip and support it in the right place, you are going to have a droopy nose three years later. Forget about 30 years later. I mean, three years later you'll have a droopy nose. You have to tolerate that.

Now, sometimes the nose is too short and you actually lengthen it, but most noses you have to bring up and support. So you just have to be realistic. You have to understand that the exact result, you can't pick it out of a catalog or a shelf, but you can have a beautiful, natural nose that fits your face. Come in, I'll show you.