DR. JEFF RAVAL IS THE NOSE GUY AMONG SURGEONS IN DENVER
Rhinoplasty is the second most common facial plastic surgery procedure performed on more than 200,000 people a year. As the most defining characteristic of the face, a slight alteration can greatly improve one’s appearance.
The procedure can rewrite a life, according to Jeffrey Raval, MD, FACS, the double board certified surgeon who has been named among his medical peers as “the Nose Doctor.” It’s a compliment Dr. Raval takes very much to heart.
Dr. Raval has become widely recognized for revisionist nose jobs as much as first-time rhinoplasty surgery. The difficulty with revision rhinoplasty, he explains, is that the second nose job surgery is most likely to involve working around complex scar tissue resulting from the initial surgery.
As a surgeon boarded by the American Board of Facial Plastic Surgery, the American Board of Head and Neck Surgery and the American board of Cosmetic Surgery, Dr. Raval has a special expertise in understanding both the inner workings of the nose as well as the outer proportions and scale. That additional training is paramount in nose surgeries, say the Doctor who has re-sculpted noses other doctors have already performed surgery on. In the cases that Dr. Raval has performed revision rhinoplasty, the patients were displeased at the outcome of their nose surgery performed by other doctors.
Dr. Raval tells a heartwarming story of a young woman who came into his office for a follow-up visit for her rhinoplasty surgery. On the way to Dr. Raval’s office, she stopped to get gasoline for her car. Another motorist took a look at the young woman and complimented her saying, “You’re beautiful.” Never in her entire life, prior to the revision rhinoplasty by Dr. Raval, had this young woman, who truly was beautiful, received a comment from anyone saying she was beautiful. It reduced her to happy tears.
Typically performed on an outpatient basis under general anesthesia, rhinoplasty methods included the open and closed technique which differs. During an open rhinoplasty, an incision in the shape of an inverted V is made along the middle column of your nose that separates your two nostrils and includes various other incisions made inside the nostrils. A closed rhinoplasty involves no incisions on the outside of the nose. The skin is lifted and the cartilage, bone and tissue underneath is sculpted and reshaped to produce the desired result. To build up nose tissue in African American, Hispanic or Asians, implants, grafts and/or cartilage can be used. The skin is then re-draped over the newly shaped area and secured with very fine stitches. Once complete, a splint of soft, absorbent material may be placed to help your nose keep its new shape and nasal packs or soft plastic splints can be placed inside to stabilize the septum.
Rhinoplasty patients should plan on resting with their head elevated for the first day. Even so, it’s possible to have a headache and feel puffiness and pain around the nose. Patients should expect some bruising, swelling and pain for the first week or two, usually relieved by cold compresses. Any bleeding stops after the first day or two. Any nasal packing is be removed within a few days and splints and surgical dressings are usually removed within one to two weeks. Stitches are removed or be absorbed on their own in a week to 10 days. Numbness on the tip of the nose is expected and may last several weeks. Swelling may linger for as long as two months. Pain medication is prescribed by the Doctor as needed, which varies for individuals.
The recovery process is different for everyone, but within a day of the rhinoplasty patients should be up and walking around. They may shower on the second or third day and should plan to limit usual activities for a week. This is an important time to not overdo it, cautions Dr. Raval. In the weeks following surgery, some patients experience facial bruising and camouflage makeup can be used to disguise any black and blue areas. The nose remains sensitive for two to three weeks, another reminder that patients should limit strenuous physical activities. Dr. Raval recommends a gradual return to lifting, air travel, exercise and sex. Along with that, he counsels patients to avoid sun or physical contact to the nose for eight weeks or so.
Rhinoplasty is a permanent procedure, however, even after rhinoplasty surgery, the nose continues to change as a person ages, just as it does for everyone.
If you’ve got a question to ask Dr. Raval about rhinoplasty, contact his office at 303.381.FACE (3223).