REVIEW
Consumer Connection
Your Complete Guide to Nose Reshaping
Truswell, William, Paul S. Nassif, Jon Mendelsohn, David A. F. Ellis, and Harrison C. Putnam. Addicus Books, 2007. 104 p. Illus. Index. Glossary. ISBN 978-1-886039-19-3. $21.95.
People considering a “nose job” (as it is generally known), whether for cosmetic or functional purposes, will do well to review this brief but thorough guide to rhinoplasty prior to surgery. Written by experienced facial plastic surgeons from across the United States and Canada, the aim is to address the questions a patient may have as well as those the patient should ask his or her physicians prior to undergoing the procedure. They discuss frankly such topics as type of surgery (open or closed rhinoplasty and revision rhinoplasty), realistic expectations and limitations of “nose reshaping,” finding the right surgeon and anesthesiologist, paying for the surgery and what to expect before, during and after surgery. Numerous photographs of patients before and after rhinoplasty surgeries demonstrate the improvements patients can expect to see. The cost of the surgery–which is one topic that might have been more fully addressed by the authors–and the unwillingness of insurance companies to pay for it will naturally limit the demand for this type of guide, and the reading level is not easy (although the organization of the chapters and the glossary provided lessen this problem). Still, this is a worthwhile purchase for those consumer health libraries where interest in plastic surgery is high.
Kay Hogan Smith
UAB Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences
Birmingham, AL
