Plenty of people who are self-conscious about their noses have considered plastic surgery. However, the pain, swelling, bruising, and significant downtime associated with traditional rhinoplasty techniques can be prohibitive. Ultrasonic rhinoplasty, a cutting-edge technique used by Montreal-based cosmetic surgeon Dr. Hani Sinno, dramatically reduces risks and recovery time, making the procedure more feasible for many.
“Imagine da Vinci or Michelangelo chiseling with a mallet and hammer. That’s how we used to chisel the nose,” Dr. Hani Sinno says. “I did that for the first 10 years of my practice. Then, I discovered the piezo. It carves the bone and doesn’t cut soft tissues. It doesn’t cut blood vessels, nerves, tissues, anything.”
The piezo device uses ultrasonic vibrations to make very tiny cuts on the surface of the bone. When used by a skilled surgeon, it can precisely carve and reshape the delicate bones of the nose.
“If you’re cutting the nose manually, you could break a bone by accident,” he says. “It’s not as precise. With the piezo, you get micron-by-micron precision and the ability to truly reshape and structure tissue.” Most patients who undergo rhinoplasty have a specific aesthetic in mind, and the more precision a surgeon has, the closer they can get to a patient’s vision.
Understanding how the piezo works is often easier with a demonstration. “This is an eggshell,” he says, selecting a pristine, unbroken shell from a carton on his desk. “So you see, I carved a ‘Dr.'” He rotates the egg to reveal “Dr.” etched into the shell by the piezo. “If you used a mallet, it would be broken.”
As you might imagine, recovering from a piezo procedure is simpler — with a lot less swelling and bruising — than recovering from a traditional rhinoplasty. Because the ultrasonic technique causes far less trauma to the nose, patients can get back to feeling and looking normal much faster. Furthermore, the risk of…
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