Question: Why do some plastic surgeons only show the lateral or profile view of the nose following rhinoplasty or revision rhinoplasty?
Answer: This is a great question. In my opinion, plastic surgeons should provide at least two views of the nose in their before and after photos. Nasal reshaping is such a 3-dimensional process that I don’t a single lateral view can represent an accurate outcome of the surgery. Plastic surgeons should always try to provide before and after rhinoplasty photos of at least two views – preferably a frontal and side view. Sometimes the oblique or 45 degree angle view also helps in demonstrating an accurate change. Many plastic surgeons will post only the lateral view of the nose showing how, for instance, a hump has been removed or how the tip was elevated. That is great to see this view but the real question is how does that nose look from the front? Getting the frontal view symmetric and refined is the real challenge in rhinoplasty and revision rhinoplasty. Without the frontal postoperative photo, I personally don’t think that one can accurately judge how good of a rhinoplasty was performed. My humble opinion. Dr. Hilinski