Rhinoplasty and San Francisco: Explore One of the Top Cosmetic Procedures in the United States

Each year, facial cosmetic surgeon Dr. Stanley Jacobs—who offers plastic surgery in the San Francisco Bay Area—anticipates the release of a set of national plastic surgery statistics, revealing the most popular cosmetic surgical procedures performed by surgeons throughout the United States.

First place, by a wide margin, is consistently breast augmentation, followed by rhinoplasty. San Francisco-area patients may know the procedure as nose shaping, but no matter what it’s called, it remains a sought-after treatment for people who want their nose to be a different size or shape.

Though the most recent figures, released by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in early 2014, show that the number of rhinoplasty surgeries declined slightly from the year before—dropping 2 percent, from 221,053 to 217,124—the procedure still beat out liposuction, eyelid surgery (technically known as blepharoplasty), and facelift on the annual list.

Why is there such demand for rhinoplasty? San Francisco’s Dr. Jacobs sees patients choosing nose surgery for a variety of reasons, including a desire to change the nose they inherited due to genetics, to correct what aging has done to their appearance, to fix distortion due to an injury, to improve nasal functionality when it comes to breathing, or some combination of the above.

While rhinoplasty routinely comes in second to breast augmentation overall, there are some demographics for which it is the top choice.

Men, for instance—who do not opt for breast implants, according to the report’s gender distribution list—overwhelmingly choose rhinoplasty above all other cosmetic surgical procedures available to them. Demographic breakdowns for the 2013 figures show that male rhinoplasty surgeries accounted for much more than a quarter of the total number of male procedures performed that year. (They also accounted for more than a quarter of all cosmetic surgeries that year for men and women.)

Previous surveys have also shown that rhinoplasty is the top choice for plastic surgery for the younger-than-30 demographic, including the 20-29 and the 13-19 age ranges. Nose shaping should not be performed until the patient is considered fully grown, at least facially, which does not happen until around age 15 or 16—though Dr. Jacobs may make allowances for cases in which functionality is particularly poor and regular breathing is obstructed or otherwise difficult.

Because of its popularity, rhinoplasty may be seen as something that can be handled by a good many doctors with relative ease, but anyone considering choosing the common procedure should put careful thought into the person who would be handling the surgery itself. When seeking rhinoplasty, prospective patients should ask a facial plastic surgeon a series of questions, including what other procedures might be recommended. Since the nose is such a prominent feature, even small changes to its size and shape can have a large impact on the rest of the face. The ultimate effects of a rhinoplasty—even one done for strictly functional reasons—should lead to balanced proportions with the chin, cheekbones, ears, and more.

Hopeful patients should also thoroughly research their intended doctor’s background, particularly looking for an emphasis on facial procedures. An ideal plastic surgeon to handle rhinoplasty will also be trained in ear, nose, and throat surgery.

The prevalence and prominence of rhinoplasty should not detract from the fact that it is surgery, which requires that patients be in good health prior to the procedure and account for recovery time in the days and weeks after the nose reshaping is completed.

The fact that three of the top five most popular cosmetic surgery procedures in the United States focus on the face, and that a fourth—liposuction—can be applied to the neck, chin, and eye areas as well, shows that patients put a lot of weight on presenting the face they want to the world.