What Improvements have there been in Rhinoplasty?


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Up to the 1970s

While there are a number of techniques that were pioneered by Sushruta, such as using skin from the forehead, that are still used today, Rhinoplasty has developed a lot since it first became popular in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century. It was first performed by two surgeons; Johann Dieffenbach and Jacque Joseph. The main improvement, or difference, is that these two men operated on noses that were fairly normal rather than those that had been mutilated, effectively beginning the idea of cosmetic surgery in the modern age. One of the first major improvements to be discovered in the field of Rhinoplasty (as mentioned above) was the first intranasal Rhinoplasty performed by John Orlando Roe in America in 1887. It became instantly popular as it offered a number of advantages over the traditional Rhinoplasty; the most important being that the scars were more internal and therefore harder to see than those created by other methods of Rhinoplasty. The practise was so popular that it continued to be used until the 1970s when it finally began to lose popularity.

The 1970s and Beyond

Dr. Goodman published an article in 1973 that proposed a new type of Rhinoplasty that is known as open Rhinoplasty. Rather than making the incisions inside the nose, this type of Rhinoplasty makes use of incisions outside the nose and also on the bottom of the nose as well. While at first glance it may seem that this is an unlikely improvement, you need to remember that internal incisions, before the advent of keyhole surgery, made it extremely difficult for the surgeon to get access to the tissue and cartilage that he or she needed. On top of this it made it far more difficult for the surgeon to see what they were doing. Therefore the advantages of open Rhinoplasty are that the results are more likely to be those that you want, and you are less likely to need revision surgery to correct any problems or mistakes that were made.

A third development that has come about is not to do with the actual surgery itself but the ethics surrounding it. Different cultures have different ideas of what they think is pleasing to look at, however, in the past it was not an individual's ideas that were important; instead doctors worked to the Caucasian image of what was deemed beautiful. As this is clearly ethically incorrect, over time the practise changed and now each surgeon is sympathetic, both to what the person wants, and what would look right with their ethnicity. This type of Rhinoplasty is called ethnic Rhinoplasty and is done more in tune with the patients' own face and not adhering to the traditional view of what is attractive.

Aside from these two main developments, there have been numerous smaller ones that have helped to make Rhinoplasty safer and give better results than ever before such as the use of cartilage to reshape the nose which has meant that better definition can be given to what you want doing.

Finally, one of the most startling changes in Rhinoplasty is not one that is necessarily an advantage, but it is a change that needs to be recognised nevertheless. This change is that in the early days of Rhinoplasty, it was very rare and was without exception something that only the wealthy could afford as it was very costly. However, in the last century something of an osmosis of Rhinoplasty through all spectrums of society has occurred and nowadays it is available to film stars and farmers alike.

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