A Wider Nose?

[Kimmy]

I had SARPE surgery back in 2008, and had my upper jaw broken again, along with my chin June of 2010. I have noticed that my nose is much wider now. Please see blog post here:

http://www.jawdiaries.com/2011/02/a-wider-nose.html

Can someone please tell me if this is normal? I feel like my nostrils are constantly flared looking. I am still healing and have been told it will take a year for things to settle. I'm hoping the nose will settle a bit but not confident it will.

Thanks!

Kimmy

[sarahorsomeone]

I know upper jaw surgery can cause nose changes. My surgeon did a lot of stitching to try and prevent nose changes in my case, but my nose has still tipped up a bit at the tip. I'm 4 months out so it might not have fully resolved yet but the new nose seems to be here to stay. In my case I don't really mind it; if anything it's made my nose look less angular.

I've heard you can sometimes have a revision of the "allar stitching" to help adjust your nose after surgery... not sure about the details of that or even quite what it means!

[bracedfaced]

Hi Kimmy! I have not had my surgery yet but have done a lot of research as well as been on this forum a while. It seems that this is a common problem with upper jaw surgery. The surgeon can place an "alar stitch" during surgery which can minimize how wide the nose will become. This does not mean that the nose will NOT get wider...it just helps minimize it. Do you know if your surgeon used one? Even those with an alar stitch still tend to notice their nose being wider. That being said...you are completely normal!

What can be done about it? I am not sure. I believe there is something that can be done but I don't know anything about it. Can someone more knowledgeable chime in? I'd love to know the answer as well!

I had SARPE surgery back in 2008, and had my upper jaw broken again, along with my chin June of 2010. I have noticed that my nose is much wider now. Please see blog post here:

http://www.jawdiaries.com/2011/02/a-wider-nose.html

Can someone please tell me if this is normal? I feel like my nostrils are constantly flared looking. I am still healing and have been told it will take a year for things to settle. I'm hoping the nose will settle a bit but not confident it will.

Thanks!

Kimmy

[moth]

my nose become wider and my nostrils more flared as well. i had my surgery about 2 years ago so i'm pretty sure everything has settled. i would really like to find out about this possible revision of alar stitching post-surgery, because i remember my surgeon mentioning it to me.

[qwertz1]

one surgeon mentioned a procedure called a "Weir excision" to me in case your nose changes too much due to jaw surgery. as a revision, after the swelling is gone.
I don't know what exactly it is supposed to do though, and I guess there is more than one procedure.