02.24
muni
As our society becomes more and more diverse, aesthetic medicine is getting away from the one-size fits all mentality of the past. Treatments today are increasingly being tailored to the particular needs of various ethnic groups. Los Angeles has a large Asian population and responding to their particular aesthetic concerns has become important to many cosmetic practices here. One of the more common reasons that Asians come in, is because they are unhappy with their nose. Most do not want a Caucasian nose. They want to have a higher, better-defined bridge, but they do not want to go through surgery. Some just do not have the time to go through the healing process, some are afraid of the risks involved, some can't afford the expense, and some are afraid of ending up with unnatural results.
Typically, the Asian nose has a lower, flatter and less defined nasal bridge than the Caucasian counterpart, with a rounder tip and wider spaced nostrils. Of course, there is wide variation among the different peoples of Asia and among different individuals. Also, standards of beauty differ. It is the job of the cosmetic specialist to understand the aesthetic result that the patient is looking for and to communicate the medically feasible possibilities. The patient then decides what should be done and the practitioner delivers the procedure with maximal precision and minimal risk.
The traditional mindset is that an operation is the only way to correct cosmetic nasal irregularities, even the most minor bumps or asymmetries. Over the last five years, that concept has been shown to be no longer true. Injectable fillers have been used for the last five years (I prefer Radiesse - a calcium based temporary filler that lasts about 10 to 12 months and holds its shape very well) to raise the nasal bridge and make the tip higher and less round. This procedure has been called the Non Surgical Nose Job or Non Surgical Rhinoplasty.Non-surgical cosmetic improvement of the nose only became possible recently as new fillers became approved by the FDA. Radiesse and its cousins Juvederm and Restylane are safe, natural looking and relatively long lasting. Over the last five years, as injectable fillers have been used as an effective alternative to rhinoplasty, the Non-Surgical Nose Job has demonstrated itself to be a procedure that is safe and effective with significantly less discomfort and risk than traditional rhinoplasty.
Posted in: Nose Job
