Rhinoplasty

Answer: Sometimes. Like many things in life, it is more complicated than Yes or No. If you add the social pressure of adolescence, high school, and college to the stress that anyone, regardless of age, feels about a facial feature he/she dislikes, you can appreciate how intensely some teenagers seek rhinoplasty.

In this post, we will discuss teenage nose jobs.

When is a Teenager Old Enough for a Rhinoplasty? 

A nose job or rhinoplasty is a surgical procedure that alters the size, shape and structural details of the nose. Permanently. Patients begin to seek rhinoplasty at about 14 years of age, which is too young to have surgery. There are, however, patients who are 16-17 for whom rhinoplasty, given appropriate consultation with the family, is reasonable. And patients over 18 are adults and may be mature enough and insightful enough to make an educated decision to have a rhinoplasty. The technical details of teenage rhinoplasty are not, for the most part, different from adult rhinoplasty; the difference lies in the surgeon’s assessment of the patient’s maturity, the relationship between the child and the parents, and the surgeon’s assessment of the “deformity.”

How Can the Surgeon Tell if the Patient is Old Enough?

There are several different scenarios.

• If the patient has no desire for surgery but the parent or grandparent brings him/her in for the consultation, that teenager is NOT yet a good candidate.
• If the teenager wants surgery but there is tremendous tension between him/her and the parents who do not want it, that teenager is also NOT a good candidate.
• If the patient’s description of the problem is vague and the surgeon does not identify obvious anatomic features that can and should be corrected, that patient is also NOT a good candidate.
• But if the patient has an obvious deformity, such as a very large hump or very long, plunging nose, and the parents are sympathetic and “all in”, that patient may be a good candidate as young as 16 years old.

How Long Does a Teenage Nose Job Take to Heal?

Young patients recover quickly. Most patients will be presentable at one week and can return to unrestricted activities, with the exception of major contact sports, in 3 weeks. 2/3 of the swelling will be gone in a month and the last 1/3 may take a year to resolve completely.

Who is the Ideal Candidate for Teenage Nose job/Rhinoplasty? 

• Has stopped growing and/or has an obvious disfiguring nasal shape
• Has parental consent and emotional support for surgical correction 
• Is emotionally committed to the surgery
• Is mature enough to understand the consequences of surgery and the possibility of complications and the need for revisions. 

Consult a Plastic Surgeon

If you are a teenager interested in a nose job or you are a parent interested in investigating nasal surgery for your teenagers, it is best to consult with an experienced, board-certified plastic surgeon to discuss all of the above issues. Dr. Charles Thorne specializes in plastic surgery procedures of the face, including teenage nose jobs and other complex rhinoplasty situations. 

Consult Dr. Thorne to have your questions answered and receive a caring, thoughtful recommendation for you or your child.