The Only Way To Safely Change The Shape Of Your Nose Is Rhinoplasty

In previous posts we’ve discussed the pitfalls and perils of some of the new alternatives to nose jobs that people are trying out. However, the quest for a non-surgical way to alter the nose’s appearance is nothing new. A patient recently told me that she had put a clothespin on her nose for years after seeing Amy March do it in a movie adaptation of Little Women.The book Little Women, written in 1868 by Louisa May Alcott, focuses quite a bit on Amy’s nose:“If anybody had asked Amy what the greatest trial of her life was, she would have answered at once, ‘My nose’. When she was a baby, Jo had accidentally dropped her in the coal-hod, and Amy insisted that the fall had ruined her nose forever. It was not big, nor red, like poor Petrea’s; it was only rather flat, and all the pinching in the world could not give it an aristocratic point. No one minded it but herself, and it was doing its best to grow, but Amy felt deeply the want of a Grecian nose, and drew whole sheets of handsome ones to console herself.”And also includes a mention of the clothespin treatment:“Amy had capped the climax by putting a clothespin on her nose to uplift the offending feature. It was one of the kind artists use to hold the paper on their drawing boards therefore quite appropriate and effective for the purpose to which it was now put.”While sleeping with a clothespin on your nose every night for years and years might actually change the shape of your nose, the change would likely be for the worse as pinching your nostrils impacts your breathing. The quest for beauty should never put your ability to breathe and smell at risk.Recently, Korean-made “nose lifters,” have become a dangerous fad, touted as a very inexpensive way to alter your nasal shape without surgery. The plastic hooks, sold in three different sizes, have been designed to be inserted into the nostrils to change the look of your nose at a tiny fraction of the cost of rhinoplasty.As with so many advertised cosmetic shortcuts, nose lifters promise the moon and stars. They are marketed as a quick fix for noses that are flat, wide, bulbous, droopy, crooked, flared, or contain humps. The frightening catch is that they can interfere with your sense of smell and your breathing ability. Snake oil is never a bargain.There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to look good, but attempting a DIY alteration of something as prominent or important as your nose is a terrible idea. Changing the shape of your nose is a serious medical procedure, and should be treated as such. The most effective and safest way to change your look is by hiring an experienced surgeon and undergoing rhinoplasty.