A news story from today from the LA times reports that a former Nickelodean star, Amanda Bynes, had admitted to having a rhinoplasty and is very pleased with the results. The purpose of the story is that she has made it clear that she wants all news outlets and media to only use new pictures of herself rather than old ones. She is so happy with her new nose that she never wants to look back!
I have to confess that I have no idea who Amanda Bynes is (no offense) but there were three points that jumped out at me from this ‘rhinoplasty’ story. First, her overall satisfaction with her surgical outcome. While it is true that rhinoplasty is a challenging operation, many patients are understandably critical of their results and rhinoplasty revisions are not rare, but the satisfaction from the majority of rhinoplasty surgeries is generally high. For some patients, the changes in the shape of the nose is both visually dramatic and even life altering
Secondly the purpose of her rhinoplasty surgery, by her own statements, was to ‘remove skin that was like a webbing in between the my eyes’. There is no such rhinoplasty procedure that has ever involved skin removal to create a cosmetic change. The skin on the nose, even if it very thick, is too precious to give away…not to mention the very visible scars that would result from doing it.
She may have had a low bridge of the upper nose which was augmented by either an implant or cartilage grafts. This would help lift up the skin in the corners of the eyes as the bridge is raised up which pulls skin with it. A higher bridge of the nose can also make it look thinner and more refined. A review of her pictures does show that she had a very ‘scooped’ nose with a very concave nasal profile due to very low nasal bones and middle vault. Building up this area would help make her nose more balanced and look thinner as well.
Lastly, whatever the reasons, it is clear her rhinoplasty has given her self-esteem a boost. This is the main purpose of the surgery, of course, and the external changes are just a means to get to that result. But improvement in self-esteem is a common byproduct of a rhinoplasty procedure. While the reasons for why this ‘celebrity’ has been so public about her rhinoplasty may have ulterior motives, lack of satisfaction with the result is not one of them.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana