Ep. 09 - Non Surgical Nose Job Risks: What Patients Need to Know

“You’re listening to The Beauty Balance podcast hosted by Dr. Usha Rajagopal, a San Francisco board-certified plastic surgeon with over 20 years of experience. We cover a range of highly requested aesthetics and skincare topics, and chat with industry experts and influential, talented women who truly encompass grace, beauty, and brains –  plus, you get the inside scoop on what it’s really like to be a plastic surgeon.” 

Today I’m going to talk about a very important topic and a popular procedure that I offer here in my clinic. 

What I am going to be talking about is the non-surgical rhinoplasty. I’ve seen some Instagram reports and read some articles of things that could go devastatingly wrong with fillers and non surgical rhinoplasty in particular, and also fillers in any part of the face. Several things to remember is: the face has a ton of blood vessels (arteries, veins, etc) that could not be visualized through the skin. You have to know your anatomy for a lot of the arteries. Sometimes you could have a detour and not even know. 

It’s very important to know how to inject, the technique of the injection and know what to do if something goes wrong. Having said that, not only am I a very experienced injector I’m also a board-certified plastic surgeon. 

Now, let’s talk about non-surgical rhinoplasty. I do a TON of these procedures, several a week, I do them all day everyday. I never had a complication and that is not hubris on my part. That’s just a fact. I am very careful when I’m doing the injections, understanding that it could happen to an experienced injector. Because I know the nose both inside and out -- I do surgical rhinoplasties. I open up the nose, straighten up the nose, fix the nose, and I could also fix the nose aesthetically non-surgically. 

It is extremely important if you are seeking to go have a non-surgical rhinoplasty. You would want to go to a board-certified surgeon and realistically a plastic surgeon or a dermatologist who is experienced in doing non-surgical rhinoplasties. The technique is important and how you inject is very important. If you have a complication, how you take care of it is very important. We have an emergency protocol for surgery in case things happen. We have a list of people to call, where to go to get the fastest best help so the emergency will be resolved. We have a protocol for non-surgical enhancements with the emergency protocol: who to call, where to go, what doctors to get involved in this. I do stress that you go to someone who knows what they’re doing and knows how to handle complications. If you go to a spa, is the spa ready to handle a non-surgical emergency? Is the doctor on site? What ER are they going to? Which ophthalmologist are you going to call? Do they need to have a radiologist involved for an angiogram? These are important concerns. And most importantly, do they have hyaluronidase? 

The procedure may seem simple, may take just 10 minutes, but it’s 20 years of my experience behind it and 18 years after high school that I’ve studied to get to this point. I really stress that you go to a board certified plastic surgeon or dermatologist who is an expert in injection of the face.