{"id":2988,"date":"2026-10-04T07:05:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T07:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clineca.com\/blog\/what-is-rhinoplasty-and-how-is-it-performed-steps-and-risks\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T20:22:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T20:22:51","slug":"what-is-rhinoplasty-and-how-is-it-performed-steps-and-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clineca.com\/blog\/what-is-rhinoplasty-and-how-is-it-performed-steps-and-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Rhinoplasty and How is it Performed: Steps and Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Have a question about Rhinoplasty?<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Message us on WhatsApp<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

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In this article<\/p>\n

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  1. Rhinoplasty in plain language: what the surgery changes<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. How rhinoplasty is performed, step by step<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Open or closed: how the approach changes the operation<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Naming the result you want before you discuss technique<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. The honest risk list<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Recovery: what the first weeks and months look like<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Can rhinoplasty be combined with other surgery?<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. Cost, length of stay and choosing a clinic in Turkey<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    Rhinoplasty is surgery to reshape the nose: the surgeon works through incisions hidden inside the nostrils, sometimes with a small one across the skin between them, and alters the bone and cartilage that give the nose its shape so the skin settles over a new framework. That is what rhinoplasty is; how it is performed is the part that takes longer to explain, because almost every step is chosen for your particular nose. The sections below follow the operation from the anaesthetic room to the moment the swelling finally leaves your tip.<\/p>\n

    Rhinoplasty in plain language: what the surgery changes<\/h2>\n

    Your nose is built from bone at the top, cartilage in the middle and at the tip, and a dividing wall inside called the septum. Skin and soft tissue drape over all of it. Rhinoplasty changes that underlying framework, and the outside appearance follows.<\/p>\n

    Some operations are purely cosmetic, such as lowering a bridge hump or narrowing a wide tip. Others are functional, correcting a bent septum or a collapsed airway so air moves more freely. Many are both at once, which is why a surgeon may describe your plan as a septorhinoplasty rather than a simple nose job.<\/p>\n

    It helps to know what the surgery cannot do. It cannot give you someone else’s nose, because your skin thickness, cartilage strength and facial proportions set the limits. A thick-skinned nose will never show the same sharp edges as a thin-skinned one, however carefully the cartilage underneath is shaped \u2014 our article on definition in thick-skinned noses<\/a> explains how surgeons work around that.<\/p>\n

    How rhinoplasty is performed, step by step<\/h2>\n

    The operation is almost always done under general anaesthetic, so you are fully asleep. NHS patient guidance on cosmetic nose reshaping describes it the same way, with most procedures taking roughly one and a half to three hours depending on how much work is planned. You arrive fasting, meet the anaesthetist, and wake up in recovery with a dressing or splint on your nose.<\/p>\n

    What happens in between follows a fairly consistent sequence, even though the detail changes from patient to patient:<\/p>\n

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    1. Access.<\/strong> The surgeon makes incisions inside the nostrils, adding a small external incision across the columella (the strip of skin between the nostrils) if an open approach is planned.<\/li>\n
    2. Lifting the skin.<\/strong> The soft tissue is gently raised off the bone and cartilage so the framework can be seen and measured directly.<\/li>\n
    3. Reshaping the bridge.<\/strong> A hump is filed or cut down, and if the bones need narrowing the surgeon makes controlled cuts in them, known as osteotomies.<\/li>\n
    4. Rebuilding support.<\/strong> Cartilage grafts, usually taken from your own septum or ear, are stitched in to hold the tip or the bridge in its new position.<\/li>\n
    5. Refining the tip.<\/strong> Fine sutures and small cartilage trims rotate, project or narrow the tip; this is often the slowest part of the operation.<\/li>\n
    6. Straightening the septum and closing.<\/strong> Breathing problems are addressed, the skin is laid back down, incisions are stitched, and tape plus an external splint are applied.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      For building up or supporting a nose, cartilage from your own body is still regarded as the benchmark material. A 2019 review in Current Opinion in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery<\/em> concluded that autologous cartilage remains the gold standard in augmentation rhinoplasty, even as various implants have gained ground in surgery for nasal valve collapse. Donor rib cartilage is another option in complex cases; a 2024 systematic review in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery<\/em> examined outcomes with fresh frozen rib grafts in rhinoplasty.<\/p>\n

      Soft internal splints or dissolvable packing are sometimes placed inside the nostrils at the end. If that applies to you, what internal splints feel like and when they come out<\/a> covers the part patients find most uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

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      \ud83d\udccb Why the plan matters more than the technique name<\/strong> Two surgeons can reach a similar result through different routes. What should worry you is not whether the approach is called open or closed, but whether the surgeon can explain, in front of your own photographs, which structure they intend to change and why.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      Open or closed: how the approach changes the operation<\/h2>\n
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