TEENAGE RHINOPLASTY
Beverly Hills & Los Angeles

The number of plastic surgery procedures performed on teenagers doubled between 2002 and 2010. The most popular procedure today is teenage rhinoplasty. There remains some controversy on this topic, with people typically falling into two opposing camps. On one side, people assert that juveniles are simply too young for plastic surgery, that the psychological state of young people is too in flux for a responsible decision to be made about the appropriateness of teenage rhinoplasty. On the other side, people argue that a) this procedure is extremely effective at addressing certain health issues, from sports injuries to congenital defects that cause pain and respiratory problems, and b) with careful deliberation, a teenage nose job can dramatically improve a young person’s quality of life. The nose is the center of the face and takes up a lot of real estate. As a teenager is finally transitioning to adulthood, a large or imbalanced nose can really take away from the rest of the facial harmony and from a teenager’s self-esteem.

Dr. Ashkan Ghavami performs nose surgery, including revision rhinoplasty and teenage rhinoplasty, on a routine basis. As an invited rhinoplasty expert for numerous conferences and professional publication, his recommendations on this controversial topic have helped countless teenagers and their parents to make a fully informed decision. He believes that teenage rhinoplasty can be a powerful tool for restoring an adolescent’s self-esteem. At the same time, as a responsible medical practitioner, Dr. Ghavami also strongly believes that teenage rhinoplasty should be pursued for the right reasons. To ensure that happens, the decision should be made in collaboration with parents, with advice from the surgeon, and in rare cases, with counsel from a psychologist. A prospective patient may come in looking to get a “celebrity nose job,” but Dr. Ghavami will explain that the best results are obtained when the nose is sculpted and “customized” to blend seamlessly with the patient’s own particular facial features, as opposed to emulating someone else’s. The idea here is to allow the young patient’s facial features to become enhanced and in balance by taking a disproportionate nose out of the equation. The typical age in Dr. Ghavami’s practice for undergoing this procedure is between 15 and 17.