Pittsburgh Rhinoplasty - Nose Job Surgery

Rhinoplasty is a very elegant and complicated surgery that can provide tremendous functional and cosmetic benefits to the patient. Pittsburgh Rhinoplasty surgeon, Dr. Paul Leong, has a special focus on rhinoplasty in his practice; he is a highly specialized in the area of cosmetic and functional rhinoplasty surgery. He understands that for a rhinoplasty to be successful it must achieve the patient's cosmetic goals, but it must also result in a nose that is easy to breathe through. Outstanding nasal function is never sacrificed in the pursuit of cosmetic improvement. The combination of Dr. Leong's world-class training, his years of rhinoplasty experience and his obsessive attention to detail allow him to deliver outstanding results.

The shape and contour of the nose is determined by the bone, cartilage, and the overlying skin. The challenge of rhinoplasty is that there are an infinite number of variations of how the bone, cartilage, and skin can interact to produce each individual's distinctive nose. The skilled rhinoplasty surgeon must have the experience and training to respond to all of these variations.

Several decades ago, rhinoplasty surgeon's often had a very set idea as to how a nose should look. Plastic surgeons would simply execute a similar series of steps to produce a fairly standard look. Dr. Leong does not believe that rhinoplasty should result in a standard or formulaic appearance. Instead, each of Dr. Leong's Pittsburgh patients is evaluated as an individual. The goal is to integrate the appearance of the nose harmoniously with each individual's unique facial features, while maintaining nasal breathing function. Because Dr. Leong was fully trained as an otolaryngologist – head and neck surgeon (at the world renowned program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) prior to completing his fellowship training in facial plastic surgeon, he has extensive experience in all forms of functional nasal surgery.

Dr. Leong emphasizes an approach to surgery that includes removing as little of the patient's cartilage and bone as possible in order to obtain an outstanding result. Excessive resection of the patient's nasal tissue frequently results in an operated look – Dr. Leong lives by the standard "If it does not look natural, it does not look good."

Because of his high level of focus on rhinoplasty surgery, Dr. Leong is frequently called upon to revise unsatisfactory surgery that has been performed in the past. Quite frequently, the prior rhinoplasty patients Dr. Leong sees in his Pittsburgh practice have had excessive cartilage or bone removed. In these cases, Dr. Leong does not hesitate to use cartilage from the septum, ears, or the ribs in order to reconstruct the function and appearance of the nose.

Rhinoplasty surgery is sometimes performed for strictly functional reasons – in other words, to improve the ability of the patient to breathe through the nose. These patients do not desire any changes in the appearance of their nose and if there is clear evidence of significant difficulty with nasal breathing, the patient's insurance may cover the cost of the procedure. These surgeries frequently include procedures to straighten the septum and reduce the size of structures inside the nose that can obstruct nasal breathing (the inferior turbinates).

Many rhinoplasty surgeon's have very strong feelings that rhinoplasty should be done either closed (with all incisions within the nose) or open (with a small incision across the columella – the skin between the nostrils). Dr. Leong has been fully trained to approach the nose using either of these two methods. Rather than religiously adhering to one approach or the other, Dr. Leong feels it is more appropriate to evaluate each patient individually. Certain rhinoplasty surgeries are best performed via the open approach because of the particular anatomic characteristics of that patient's nose. On the other hand, many of the patients Dr. Leong evaluates in his Pittsburgh practice do not require the open approach and can be spared this tiny external incision. It is important to emphasize that when the open approach is needed, Dr. Leong takes the time to ensure that the small external incision is closed properly and heals well.

During your consultation with Dr. Leong, he will take the time required to review all of the details of the surgery. You will have ample opportunity to review a large volume of before and after pictures (in addition to the ones in the before and after section this site). Dr. Leong is also happy to put you in touch with a large number of his previous patients if you would like to discuss their personal rhinoplasty experience. Dr. Leong appreciates how important rhinoplasty surgery is to his patients and wants you to have all of the information to make the best possible decision.

| Before and After Photos

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