Persian Rhinoplasty Surgery Procedures

Rhinoplasty is very popular in Persian culture. Persian rhinoplasty is also one of the most challenging nose surgeries. Persian noses often are large, curved, thick skinned, lack tip definition and have wide nasal bases. The thicker skin can limit both the degree of overall size reduction and increased tip refinement. The wide nasal base often results in the use of nostril incisions to narrow it.

As with all Rhinoplasties, an important factor is to recognize the importance of preserving the ethnic characteristic, while improving the nasal appearance. The goal is not to make a patient undergoing a Persian Rhinoplasty look Caucasian. A good rhinoplasty surgeon recognizes the ethnic features that identify a person culturally. The surgeon must accommodate the ethnic features to achieve a result that retains the patient’s heritage.

It is not uncommon in Persian culture to give young women a Persian rhinoplasty for a birthday or graduation gift. Because rhinoplasty is so common in Persian culture, a stroll around downtown Tehran will result in seeing dozens of nasal casts. People are not shy about advertising their nose job surgery. Tehran is truly the rhinoplasty capital of the world!

With the typical thicker than average nasal skin, attempts to narrow the tip, increase its definition and reduce the overall size of the nose can result in over-aggressive surgery and the increased risk of complications. These potential problems include loss of structural support of the nose. With time the nose starts to twist and appears to “collapse”. Although this can occur shortly after surgery, it usually is a late complication slowly arising as the years progress. Initially both surgeon and patient are happy with the improvements and neither realizes the eventual problems to come. This surgically induced nasal weakness arising from an overly aggressive Persian Rhinoplasty can also result in breathing problems as the side walls cave inwards over the years. Recognition of the limits of safe surgery by an experienced surgeon greatly reduces this issue.

Patients sometime bring photos of Caucasian celebrities to their initial consultation. This is concerning for the surgeon. Any cosmetic surgery patient must have realistic expectations in order to be happy with the result. Improvement, not perfection, is the goal. A perfect result is rarely achieved. There are usually one or two areas of unresolved imperfection. In fact there will likely be found things wrong with every nose; if it’s analysed closely enough or placed under the microscope. Removing traits of a person’s ethnic origin is unlikely to bring a pleasing result. Carefully defining pre-operative goals and discussing any modifications of the ethnic characteristics of a nose will avoid these potential issues.

The surgeon’s goal is to embrace the cultural identity of any patient, while remembering that beauty is cross-cultural. Creating subtle balance, enhancement and refinement, without eradicating ethnicity, can produce a beautiful result.