Ask Dr. Elliott: Can Rhinoplasty Give Me My Favorite Celebrity’s Nose?
As a board-certified plastic surgeon, I’m constantly reminded of how unique each person’s sense of beauty is. Two patients with similar appearances can come in for consultations and request the exact opposite procedures. It all depends on their aesthetic vision and what bothers them about their appearance, and this is extremely true for rhinoplasty, or nose surgery. For this reason, it’s important for patients to come in with a specific idea of what they want to change, and many do this by bringing in pictures of celebrities or public figures with noses they like. But, many ask, can plastic surgery really “give me so-and-so’s nose”?
In short, the answer is no – while rhinoplasty can help the nose better complement the face, it cannot make one person’s nose look like an exact copy of someone else’s. The details of your nose are actually rather complex, from slope angles to the size and shape of the tip to the contours of the nostrils. All of this is affected by your natural skin and bone structure, so replicating another person’s nose perfectly is not realistic.
What nose surgery can do, however, is emulate the balance that the nose you like gives to the person’s face. As a prominent feature of the face, your nose plays a large role in giving your appearance desirable proportions, so the goal of rhinoplasty is to sculpt your nose to complement and bring out the beauty in your other facial features. Bringing in pictures of people whose noses you consider attractive can be a helpful way for me to understand your aesthetic goals and for us to discuss what I can do to give you a nose that makes you feel more confident.
The bottom line is that cosmetic surgery is not intended to make you look like someone else – it’s meant to make you look like an enhanced version of yourself, and to give you an appearance which adds to your day-to-day confidence, rather than subtracting from it. To discuss whether rhinoplasty or another cosmetic procedure may be right for you, schedule a plastic surgery consultation. Or, for more insights into cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.