A rhinoplasty procedure by Sydney plastic surgeon Dr Kourosh Tavakoli transformed this patient’s appearance and life. Caroline Selwyn reports.

Rhinoplasty is one of the most common cosmetic surgery procedures performed in Australia, and one with a high patient satisfaction rate. According to Sydney plastic surgeon Dr Kourosh Tavakoli, many people take a long time to actually decide to have the surgery, but once they do many admit they wish they had done it sooner.

At 20 years old, Dr Tavakoli’s patient says that it was the perfect time to correct her nose that she had been ‘very aware of’ throughout her life. ‘Being young, I had no big commitments and I knew the healing time would be relatively quick,’ she says. ‘I just didn’t want to wait any longer.’

The patient says she has never been happy with her nose and always wanted to change it. ‘It just didn’t look feminine and was out of place on the rest of my face.

‘I had the misfortune of inheriting my father’s masculine European nose,’ she says. ‘It just didn’t fit with the rest of my facial features. There was a prominent bump, which was especially noticeable in my profile.’

She began researching online, reading about other people’s experiences with rhinoplasty, and found Dr Tavakoli’s case studies. ‘I was also impressed with Dr Tavakoli’s qualifications and professionalism,’ she says.

In her first consultation, Dr Tavakoli discussed the surgical possibilities, techniques and her desired outcome. ‘He showed me computerised “before” and “after” pictures of what a rhinoplasty could do for my nose,’ she says.’ This was extremely beneficial as seeing the “after” shots meant I had realistic expectations of what could be achieved.’

Dr Tavakoli also detected some breathing problems in the patient’s nasal passages. ‘It turned out my left nasal cavity was completely blocked off, so the procedure wasn’t just cosmetic after all,’ she says.

‘Before rhinoplasty, my nose just didn’t fit with the rest of my facial features and looked out of place’

The patient says her recovery was relatively slow but Dr Tavakoli and his staff were very helpful with post-surgery care. ‘I was one of the small percentage of people who was still experiencing bruising and swelling at my oneweek follow-up appointment,’ she says. ‘I had lymphatic massage to drain the build-up in my face, which cleared it up quite quickly.’

The patient says once the swelling subsided, she was ‘absolutely delighted’ with the result and her breathing had improved. ‘It was exactly what I expected and hoped for,’ she says.

The patient says she experienced a ‘very dramatic’ change. ‘It altered the entire look of my face,’ she says. ‘My nose has always been out of proportion to the rest of my
face and now it fits.’ acsm