Gregory Dibelius (0:00) 

Hey everyone, today I wanted to spend some time talking about a topic that’s really important in my practice, and that’s recovering after having a rib graft for revision rhinoplasty. 

Gregory Dibelius (0:09)  So this comes up all the time, a lot of patients who haven’t heard about rib grafting for revisions,

Gregory Dibelius (0:14)  They’re understandably very nervous about undergoing this type of procedure.

Gregory Dibelius (0:19) I want to spend some time to dispel some of the myths about this.

Gregory Dibelius (0:21) The number one myth that I want to dispel is that it’s incredibly painful and the recovery is very, very difficult. I find this to be 100% not true.

Gregory Dibelius (0:29) Most patients actually report quite an easy recovery. Yes, it is surgery.

Gregory Dibelius (0:35) Yes, it is a little bit sore, but that’s to be expected, and I find that patients regain pretty normal mobility almost right away.

Gregory Dibelius (0:41) Usually, that second day after surgery is kind of painful, but that’s usually about it.

Gregory Dibelius (0:45) Patients have no trouble getting to the office for a follow-up or to do basic activities of daily life. I think there’s a good reason for this.

Gregory Dibelius (0:53) I spend a lot of time thinking about how to minimize the recovery. I believe it starts with a surgical technique.

Gregory Dibelius (0:59) I make a very small incision. It usually starts at about one centimeter and expands to anywhere from one and a half centimeters to 1.75 centimeters, something like that, which is very small.

Gregory Dibelius (1:09) I think it limits the amount of surgery that’s performed, and also I pay a lot of attention to just being very gentle during the dissection of the rib cartilage.

Gregory Dibelius (1:17) I have had a number of patients who had rib grafts in other places prior to this, and they noticed a significant difference in terms of the ease of recovery.

Gregory Dibelius (1:26) I believe that all the little things that we do actually work.

Gregory Dibelius (1:30) If you have questions about rib grafts or any revision rhinoplasty questions, we’d love to meet with you. 

Gregory Dibelius (1:35) Give us a call. Send us an email. We’d love to meet with you.