Surgery of the nose has long been known as a rhinoplasty. Nose reshaping is one of the oldest forms of plastic surgery dating back at least two thousand years ago. It is not clear when nose reshaping acquired its rhinoplasty name, but books that date back hundreds of years use the term. Rhinoplasty, however, has nothing to do with the rhinoceros animal per se. A rhinoceras were so named because their prominent horn made people believe that they were nosy animals. Like the rhinoceros, rhinoplasty gets its name from the Greek word for nose, rhinos. When combined with the Greek word for shaping, plastikos, the term rhinoplasty emerges as the formal name for nose reshaping.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana