Portland is a town of neighborhoods, every one with its possess personality. Revision facial surgical procedure feels a piece like that map. No two patients arrive with the similar tale, anatomy, or targets. Some come from stately properties close to Laurelhurst Park after a rhinoplasty done years in the past. Others motorcycle in from Mississippi Avenue with a still-fresh septorhinoplasty that on no account settled right. A few trap us after work within the Pearl District, the place reflections in keep windows preserve reminding them of a bump that shouldn’t be there. What ties those trips at the same time is a choice for a cautious 2d flow, an system expert by way of expertise and restraint. That is the work we do day after day at The Portland Center for Facial Plastic Surgery, and it needs same portions judgment and craft.
What “revision” exceedingly means
A revision isn’t a redo within the casual feel. It is a brand new operation on an operated nostril, eyelid, jawline, or scar, with tissues altered by using time, methodology, and scar biology. Rhinoplasty revisions may be as modest as correcting a polly-beak or as frustrating as rebuilding a collapsed midsection vault after aggressive cartilage removing. Revision neck lifts could deal with banding recurrence considering the fact that the platysma wasn’t accurately treated, or repair contour irregularities from over-resection of fat. Lower eyelids can require elevation while scar tethering shortens the lid or whilst until now fat removal hollowed the lid-cheek junction.
The first operation writes the regulations for the second. Scar tissue, missing aid, epidermis reminiscence, and compromised vascularity substitute the surgical playbook. When patients ask whether revision is riskier, the fair reply is yes, aas a rule via a notch or two, and that may be why pacing and planning remember greater than ever.
A candid seek the advice of units the tone
Before we contact a scalpel, now we have a protracted dialog. The wonderful revision outcomes develop from alignment among anatomy, expectation, and possibility. We diagram, degree, and take a look at pix from until now and after the 1st surgical treatment. We ask where the end result afflicted the affected person on day 10, month 6, and year 2. Sometimes, a issue at day 10 was once swelling that eventually diminished. Sometimes, a worry at 12 months 2 is cartilage warping to be able to possibly get worse. Honest timelines form judgements. When edema remains to be evolving at six months after a known rhinoplasty, we incessantly recommend persistence to the nine to twelve month mark until there is an airway or structural trouble.
In rhinoplasty Portland patients most commonly mention respiration demanding situations after beauty adjustments. We run a sensible evaluate alongside aesthetics, because form and airflow are partners. Spreader grafts, septal reconstructions, and turbinates may possibly want cognizance even when the patient starts off the conversation with a bridge irregularity. Revision is by no means just a floor restoration.
Why revision is technically different
Primary operations are about sculpting. Revisions are approximately recuperation. That distinction indicates up in the ingredients we use and the collection we stick to.
Cartilage availability becomes relevant. In a primary-time rhinoplasty, we are able to most commonly harvest septal cartilage for grafts. In a revision, the septum should be depleted or warped. This shifts the plan to ear cartilage or, in extra complex circumstances, rib cartilage. Ear cartilage is pliable and titanic for delicate contours, alar batten grafts, or tip refinement. Rib cartilage adds constitution for main dorsal reconstruction or while the midsection vault collapsed, however it includes a small risk of warping if now not carved and stabilized adequately. Experienced surgeons be aware of which graft for which task and ways to evade adding bulk where delicacy is needed.
Scar planes also trade tactile suggestions. A appropriate dissection in a major case can persist with healthy tissue planes. In a revision, those planes blur. The health practitioner has to experience simply by firmness and find the suitable intensity devoid of tearing fragile comfortable tissue or violating cartilage wrappers. In slash eyelids, a revision quite often requires scar unlock and mushy redraping to avoid a pulling outcome. In neck revisions, we deal with tethering that may disguise accurate platysmal location.
The airway is the nonnegotiable accomplice. Too many revision rhinoplasty instances stem from a nose that regarded thinner yet collapsed on inhalation. Restoring structural help is a priority, even if the cultured request seems minor. We repeatedly say: if it doesn’t breathe enhanced, it isn’t bigger.
Our philosophy: degree two times, function once, customise each time
No two revision plans appear alike in our prepare. A girl from Sellwood got here in with a small step-off at the rhinion and uneven tip definition after a well-known surgery someplace else. Her breathing turned into right, the internal constructions good. Her revision was once a quick, concentrated operation, well-nigh a rasping and micro-grafting session with a conservative tip suture adjustment. A man from St. Johns arrived with saddle deformity and severe obstruction after over-resection of dorsal cartilage. His case required rib harvest, dorsal onlay, elevated spreader grafts, and lateral crural reinforce. Both patients had “revision rhinoplasty,” yet they lived on reverse ends of the complexity spectrum.
We degree complex reconstructions when prudent. Sometimes, edema, pores and skin exceptional, and airway mechanics profit from a two-step manner, especially in the scarred or thin-skinned nostril. Trying to repair all the things immediately may well tempt destiny and blood furnish. Our threshold for staging is discreet while a patient has a heritage of negative medication or when pores and skin is extremely-skinny, as we generally see in sufferers of Scandinavian descent around Northwest Portland.
Planning instruments that make a difference
3D photography is helping set expectations and evaluation symmetry. We certainly not promise the simulation because the outcome, but the job exposes priorities and change-offs. High-selection endoscopy of the nostril tells us which interior valves narrow with thought and what kind of the septum deviates at numerous ranges. We mix this with old school palpation and caliper measurements. For eyelids and midface, we examine vector rigidity, snap-to come back, and scleral coach, then opt regardless of whether the repair is a canthopexy, midface elevation, or scar unencumber with fat grafting.
We preserve the pictures true. Harsh lighting fixtures conceal pores and blur pores and skin texture. We shoot below consistent, sincere lighting fixtures so we will be able to evaluate like with like. This matters surprisingly in revision cases with sophisticated dorsal irregularities that appear in simple terms at selected angles.
The anatomy after surgery: what we be expecting to see
People suppose scar tissue as a uniform sheet. In truth, that is patchy and behaves otherwise in each sector. In the nose, tender tissue thickening broadly speaking settles within the supratip quarter. If a previous surgical operation thinned the tip cartilages aggressively, the supratip can appearance sought after, a basic polly-beak. Fixing it might require defatting, tip assist grafts, and sophisticated delicate tissue trimming in place of comfortably rasping the dorsum.
The midsection vault, bounded by using higher lateral cartilages, can slender after dorsal reduction if spreader grafts have been no longer located or had been undersized. This narrowing not simply pinches the interior nasal valve but also units up noticeable inverted-V deformity. In revision, we fix the keystone enviornment with proper graft width, more often than not 2 to 3 millimeters, and extend long enough to cling the dorsum in sturdy alignment.

In eyelids, the anterior lamella will probably be shortened through past skin excision. Lower lid retinacular beef up might possibly be weak. A revision may possibly name for a lateral canthal tightening and, in rare situations, a spacer graft if there may be lid retraction. Each maneuver has a value in healing time and viable swelling, which we give an explanation for prematurely.
A phrase on scars and skin
Scar conduct is a spectrum. Patients with a powerful fibrotic reaction might also increase thick scar pads under the dermis envelope. If we cope with merely cartilage and forget about the comfortable tissue, the contour still appears off. We use really apt smooth tissue thinning while skin will tolerate it, combined with steroid microinjections postoperatively for the ones more likely to hypertrophy. Conversely, some patients current with thin skin where every ridge and aspect telegraphs. In these instances, we forestall sharp transitions and lean on diced cartilage wrapped in fascia to melt contour. This finesse separates an outstanding revision from a serviceable one.
Skin health matters more than many are expecting. We may also pause a revision for a month or two to optimize the dermis with retinoids, pigment regulate, and mushy resurfacing. For patients who run and hike in Forest Park all summer, we layer in strict sun safe practices to keep away from pigment ameliorations after surgical treatment. An further few weeks of prep can yield a smoother canvas and less surprises.
Anesthesia options and surgical setting
Many small revisions shall be achieved safely with nearby anesthesia and oral sedation, exceedingly for minor dorsal work or suture adjustments. This mind-set shortens recuperation, reduces nausea, and facilitates sufferer position differences throughout surgical procedure to match symmetry. Larger reconstructions, rib cartilage harvest, and combined simple-aesthetic instances belong within the working room less than usual anesthesia for airway manipulate and particular hemodynamics.
We plan situations to lessen time less than anesthesia. Efficient surgical operation will never be hurried surgical treatment, it can be properly-sequenced surgical procedure. For illustration, in complicated rib graft rhinoplasty, we quite often have a two-crew workflow wherein one prepares the graft although the alternative establishes the nasal exposure. Attention to aspect inside the carving phase prevents postoperative warp and saves hours of downstream hindrance.
Recovery, endurance, and the psychology of the second one time
Revision patients hold extra be anxious, and justifiably so. They have lived through a less than perfect influence. We set a recovery map that displays the true tempo of swelling. Visible advantage may just arrive in two weeks, but refinement can take six to 365 days, longer for thick dermis or vast grafting. The replicate lies inside the first month whilst edema can make guidance seem boxy and bridges look huge. We agenda extra universal early visits to advisor taping, splints, and steroid microinjections if needed.
Anecdotally, the affected person who fares premiere is the only who makes a speciality of operate and share rather than chasing a hyper-explicit angle or millimeter. Portlanders who surf at the coast or run along the Eastbank Esplanade frequently inform us that breathing without problems subjects as so much because the selfie. That mind-set has a tendency to produce the happiest long-time period outcomes.
When we say no
Saying no is section of taking revision surgical procedure significantly. We decline to operate while dermis is too thin to conceal modifications, whilst blood furnish dangers outweigh merits, or when expectations will not meet anatomy. Sometimes we endorse a quick in-administrative center filler trial, for example a small amount of hyaluronic acid alongside a delicate dorsal irregularity, to preview how a soft tissue addition transformations the road. If the filler try out improves the worry and the affected person tolerates the contour, we discuss no matter if a cartilage resolution is price the commerce-offs.
For shrink eyelid hollows after competitive fat removing, micro-fats grafting or structural fillers may well fulfill the aim with out reopening scarred planes. The most advantageous plastic health professional Portland sufferers can accomplice with is one that is aware of that restraint is a capability, no longer a loss of braveness.
Practical important points patients ask us every week
Patients by and large ask what number revisions we function and what our revision fee seems like. In a standard yr, a gigantic component of our rhinoplasty circumstances are revisions, many referred via colleagues around Portland and the stronger Pacific Northwest. Revision prices after main rhinoplasty differ by prepare and sufferer inhabitants, customarily quoted within the 5 to fifteen % selection, with the scale down conclusion noticed in more conservative, structurally oriented innovations. For problematical anatomy or trauma histories, the price climbs. We music our numbers heavily, evaluate tough circumstances, and adjust methods as evidence and adventure demand.
Cost and recovery time differ with complexity. Minor contact-ups will likely be temporary and comparatively affordable, although considerable reconstructions means the scope of first-time surgery. We assistance sufferers weigh the timing of labor and shuttle. For instance, these commuting every day from Beaverton or Hillsdale may respect staging a surgical treatment to prevent lifting and commuting strain inside the first two weeks.
Materials and techniques we lean on
We prefer autologous elements on every occasion achievable. Cartilage and fascia from the affected person integrate predictably and forestall lengthy-term risks of implant publicity. That does no longer suggest implants never have a role, but in noses, extremely revisions, biologic grafts mostly age better and experience greater typical on palpation. In the face and neck, fat grafting can restore gentle contours after over-resection, rather in tear troughs and prejowl sulcus.
Sutures should not incidental. Suture range and vector examine tip rotation, alar stability, and even how a neck contour behaves in action. We desire sluggish-absorbing material for support and keep permanent sutures that danger extruding by using thin skin. Details like beveling cartilage edges and genuine graft pockets scale back the possibility of palpable ridges, which skinny-skinned sufferers from areas like Irvington understand at the moment under brilliant pale.
Communication with past surgeons
We welcome collaboration. If a patient concurs, we commonly attain out to the fashioned health professional for operative notes. Knowledge of earlier graft locations, suture techniques, and harvest websites saves time and limits surprises. Most colleagues proportion a universal objective, and legit courtesy enables the patient consider supported in preference to caught between reviews. If operative notes are unavailable, we count on much less and discover greater all through surgical procedure, prepared with contingency grafts and tools.
What success feels like 12 months later
A triumphant revision blends in. It lets the nose belong to the face, the eyelids frame the eyes without drawing awareness, and the neck look sparkling with no browsing pulled. From a pragmatic viewpoint, patients tell us they omit about their nostril even as studying at the Portland Streetcar or sipping coffee on Alberta Street. Photographs seem to be them, in simple terms more harmonious. Breathing is quiet and ordinary at the same time climbing up to Pittock Mansion. These are the markers that rely.
Neighborhoods and studies that shape our practice
Working in Portland, you absorb the urban’s conduct. We see runners from the Springwater Corridor who want reliable nasal enhance for heavy respiration. Musicians from the Alberta Arts District desire refined, digicam-friendly refinement, no longer drastic replace. Chefs in Buckman need minimum downtime and scheduling flexibility around service. These truly-global constraints result our surgical plans as much as anatomy does. When a plan respects lifestyles as it's certainly lived, the influence fits more suitable.
When revision isn’t approximately surgery
Not each and every revision calls for an operation. A small spicule on the dorsum may possibly glossy with in-place of work rasping and a bit of regional anesthesia. Early asymmetry can settle with taping and time. Postoperative steroid injections can melt agency supratip edema that masquerades as a structural limitation. For neck contour irregularities after liposuction, exterior radiofrequency or subdermal tightening may possibly guide whilst the dermis’s elastic recoil nevertheless has existence left. We like plain fixes when they paintings, considering that each incision is a promise and a responsibility.
Nuts-and-bolts information for somebody since a revision
- Gather your comprehensive photo history and operative notes if you can still, which includes any implant or graft main points. Wait a sensible c language after the 1st surgical treatment, almost always nine to 365 days, until breathing or structural issues warrant previous action. Write down the major 3 belongings you desire changed. If the whole lot is “suitable,” not anything is. Ask your health care professional how they're going to supply graft cloth and why. The solution must be detailed in your nose and your aims. Plan your calendar for predictable swelling and the possibility of small contact-ups. Build margin into existence parties.
How we steadiness art and function
Revision work is improvisation with a ranking. The anatomy and scars are the sheet song, the affected person’s goals are the melody, and the general practitioner’s technique is the instrument. When we say we follow structural rhinoplasty, what we suggest is that we recognize structure. A straight, breathable framework lets great-tuning on the floor shine with no compromise. For eyelids, that framework is eyelid give a boost to and ocular safety. For necks, that's deep management of the platysma and subplatysmal area, now not simply surface suction.

For the ones finding on-line phrases like rhinoplasty Portland or Cosmetic physician Portland, the limitation is sifting by using claims to in finding philosophy. Look for ahead of-and-afters that present consistency throughout exclusive noses and skin sorts, for language that emphasizes respiration and shape, and for a seek the advice of that sounds like a discussion, no longer a gross sales pitch.
A day in the OR: a composite case
A composite instance brings these rules to lifestyles. A sufferer in her thirties from Goose Hollow had a principal rhinoplasty some other place, finishing with a pinched tip and a slight inverted V. Breathing worsened after routines. On examination, the septum changed into depleted, tip cartilages weakened, and interior valves narrowed. Ear cartilage on my own might not suffice. We scheduled rib https://www.portlandfacial.com/procedures/cheek-implants-oregon harvest, defined the small chest scar, and keen fascia for diced cartilage.
In surgical procedure, we conducted open exposure to visualize scarred planes, positioned prolonged spreader grafts to rebuild the midsection vault, and stabilized the end with a tongue-in-groove maneuver at the septal remnant supported through a conscientiously carved rib extension graft. We used diced cartilage in fascia to mix the higher dorsum, warding off harsh edges opposed to her thin pores and skin. The next day, her splint sat easily with out scorching spots, an honest sign. At six weeks, swelling remained, however the midvault held open on concept. At twelve months, she pronounced that runs alongside Naito Parkway have been quiet again. Her graphics confirmed a nostril that not pinched lower than overhead light.
Your subsequent step
If you might be weighing a revision, deliver your questions and your persistence. We will deliver our enjoy, a plan, and the humility to regulate as your tissues claim themselves. The most crucial factor we provide is judgment earned across many the several faces, from the steep bridge traces we broadly speaking see round the West Hills to the softer dorsal curves typical in our Southeast sufferers. Revision surgical procedure rewards cautious eyes and regular fingers. It additionally rewards believe outfitted simply by transparent, unhurried conversations.
Where to uncover us
The Portland Center for Facial Plastic Surgery sits inside convenient achieve of Slabtown and the Pearl, practically the town’s north-south spine and an user-friendly hop from the Fremont Bridge. Patients repeatedly take hold of a espresso on NW twenty third after a stick with-up, or make a instant discontinue at Washington Park with a quick stroll to respire precise air by a actual, running nose.
The Portland Center for Facial Plastic Surgery 2235 NW Savier St Suite A, Portland, OR 97210
Phone 503-899-0006
If you are trying to find a plastic physician Portland patients accept as true with for measured, considerate revision care, beginning with a communication. Bring your heritage, your hopes, and a willingness to take into accout layout and role collectively. We will meet you there.
For the ones comparing suggestions for facial surgical operation Portland or trying the Best rhinoplasty Surgeon in Portland OR The Portland Center for Facial Plastic Surgery, what concerns maximum seriously is not a headline however a consistent, affected person-first method. The precise revision marries restraint with precision. That is the craft we exercise, from the 1st seek advice from to the closing, quiet breath.