A Surgeon’s Honest Advice: How I’d Choose a Rhinoplasty Surgeon

I see patients all the time who are overwhelmed. They’ve scrolled through hundreds of “perfect” noses on Instagram/Tiktok, and everyone seems to be an expert. It’s confusing.

I see the weight of this, whether you’re hoping for a life-changing rhinoplasty or you’re anxiously searching for a revision rhinoplasty specialist to fix someone else’s work.

As a Rhinoplasty surgeon who has dedicated my career to the nose, I want to give you some honest, practical advice. If you were my friend or family member asking me how to find the right doctor, here is exactly what I would tell you. Forget the marketing and the social media hype. You are hiring someone for two separate jobs, and most people only think about one.

Job #1: The Look. Job #2: The Breathing.

Everyone focuses on Job #1: the aesthetics. And you should. You absolutely must like the surgeon’s style and their “after” photos.

But Job #2 is the one that truly impacts your quality of life: function.

Let me be very clear: a beautiful nose that you cannot breathe through is a failed surgery. Period.

The real challenge isn’t finding a surgeon who can make a nose look different. It’s finding a surgeon who can make it look better while protecting or, in many cases, fixing your breathing.

This is where you must start your search.

Are They an “ENT” Doctor?

Before you even look at a photo, check the surgeon’s background. Are they an Otorhinolaryngologist? We just call it ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat).

Why does this matter so much?

An ENT doctor spends years training almost exclusively on the inside of the nose. We live and breathe nasal passages. We are trained to fix the very things that block your breathing:

• A Deviated Septum: The crooked wall inside your nose.
• Enlarged Turbinates: The structures that get swollen and make you feel “stuffy.”

A surgeon without this deep ENT training might not be comfortable fixing these issues. They might only focus on the outside. An ENT-trained facial plastic surgeon sees the whole picture. We see the nose as a single, complex structure, inside and out.

How to Really Read “Before and After” Photos

Okay, let’s talk about the photos. They are important. But you have to look at them with a doctor’s eye.

1. Don’t look for the “same nose.” If every “after” photo shows the same tiny, sloped, “done” nose, that’s a red flag for me. A great surgeon doesn’t have one signature nose. They have one signature result: a nose that looks balanced and natural on each individual patient’s face.
2. Look at the nostrils. This is my insider tip. Look closely at the “after” nostrils, especially from the front and base views. Do they look pinched, collapsed, or unnaturally small? That is a huge warning sign. It often means the structural support of the nose was weakened, and that is a classic cause of breathing problems down the line. A good result looks supported and natural, not pinched.