Functional Septorhinoplasty

Hello, and welcome to the third video in my 4-part video series on nasal reshaping surgery. In this video we'll look at functional septorhinoplasty. This, is a surgery that improves both breathing, and nasal shape. It's often the right choice when symptoms are caused by more than just the septum. The first group I treat, are patients who already notice their nose is crooked or has a large bump. They usually want to improve both function and appearance - and doing both at once leads to better results and fewer surgeries. The second group are people who don't realize they have other structural problems. For example, their nasal valve - the narrowest part of the nose - might collapse when they breathe in. Which can feel like one side is always blocked. A helpful sign is when pulling the cheek outward improves breathing. This is known as the modified Cottle's sign and suggests a valve issue. In these cases, septoplasty alone won't fix the problem - we need to support the side wall. The third group are patients who've had a septoplasty in the past, but are seeking further changes. In these cases - revision surgery is more complex, because cartilage has often been removed, or weakened in the first operation. In these cases: I sometimes need to take cartilage from the ear, or rib to rebuild the structure. Recently, we've started using safe, preserved donor cartilage to reduce the need for further surgery and make recovery easier. This has changed how I talk to patients who want septoplasty but may consider cosmetic changes later. Even if you are only slightly interested in changing the shape of your nose, it's often better to combine both procedures. That's because removing parts of the septum can make future cosmetic work much harder. For example - you may lose important support that's needed to reshape the nose - or require more extensive grafting later. Thank you for watching. If you are considering functional septorhinoplasty then please get in touch. I also recommend watching the next video in the series where I go into more detail on aesthetic rhinoplasty.