Yes, a nose job is plastic surgery. Formally called rhinoplasty, it is one of the most common plastic surgery procedures in the world, with roughly 1.1 million performed globally in 2023 alone. But the full answer has a useful nuance: a nose job can be either cosmetic (changing appearance) or functional (improving breathing), and sometimes both at once. That distinction matters for everything from insurance coverage to which surgeon you choose.
Where Rhinoplasty Fits in Plastic Surgery
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons lists rhinoplasty under its cosmetic procedures category. Plastic surgery is a broad medical specialty that covers both reconstructive work (repairing damage from injuries, birth defects, or disease) and cosmetic work (changing appearance by choice). Rhinoplasty spans that range. A surgeon might reshape a nose purely for aesthetics, repair a broken nose after an accident, or reconstruct one after skin cancer removal. All of these fall under the plastic surgery umbrella.
One important distinction: there is no medical board recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties with “cosmetic surgery” in its name. Board-certified plastic surgeons are certified through the American Board of Plastic Surgery, which requires at least six years of surgical training after medical school, including a minimum of three years of plastic surgery residency, plus comprehensive written and oral exams. When you see the term “cosmetic surgery,” it describes a type of procedure, not a separate surgical specialty.
Cosmetic vs. Functional Nose Surgery
When people say “nose job,” they usually mean cosmetic rhinoplasty: reshaping the bridge, refining the tip, adjusting the width of the nostrils, or removing a bump. The goal is a natural-looking result that fits with the rest of your facial features. This type of procedure is elective, and insurance typically does not cover it.
Functional rhinoplasty is a different story. The most common version is septoplasty, which straightens a deviated septum, the wall of cartilage and bone dividing your nasal passages. A significantly crooked septum can cause chronic stuffiness, headaches, snoring, sleep apnea, and difficulty breathing during exercise or sleep. Because septoplasty addresses a medical problem, insurance often does cover it.
Many patients get both done in a single operation, sometimes called septorhinoplasty. The surgeon corrects the internal airway issue and reshapes the exterior at the same time. In these combination cases, the functional portion may be covered by insurance while the cosmetic portion is not.
Open and Closed Techniques
Rhinoplasty is performed using one of two approaches. In a closed rhinoplasty, all incisions are made inside the nostrils. There is no visible scarring, recovery tends to be shorter, and the procedure preserves more of the nose’s natural blood supply. It works well for straightforward cases that don’t require major structural changes.
Open rhinoplasty involves a small incision across the strip of tissue between the nostrils, allowing the surgeon to lift the skin and see the underlying cartilage and bone directly. This gives much greater control for complex reshaping, revision surgery, or cases that need structural grafts. The tradeoff is a slightly longer operating time, more swelling afterward, and a small scar that typically fades to nearly invisible. Temporary numbness at the nasal tip is also more common with the open approach.
What Recovery Looks Like
The first week after rhinoplasty is the most restrictive. You’ll wear a nasal splint, manage swelling and bruising, and need to avoid any activity that could bump your nose. The splint comes off at your first follow-up visit, usually around one week post-surgery. Bruising around the eyes, which occurs in about 20% of patients, fades over the first two weeks.
By the end of week four, most people can return to everyday activities, though contact sports and intense exercise are still off limits. Around four to six months, 80% to 90% of swelling has resolved and your nose will look close to its final shape. Full healing takes about a year. That timeline surprises many people, but the remaining changes after month six are subtle, mostly involving the nasal tip softening into its permanent contour.
Risks and Revision Rates
Rhinoplasty is generally safe, with infection rates below 1%. But it is one of the more technically demanding plastic surgery procedures, and results don’t always match expectations on the first attempt. Revision rates after a primary rhinoplasty fall between 5% and 15% across published studies, though some high-volume surgeons report rates closer to 3% to 4%.
About 10% of patients report new or lingering breathing problems after cosmetic rhinoplasty, a risk that’s especially relevant if functional airflow isn’t carefully preserved during reshaping. Numbness in certain areas of the nose is common in the early months and usually resolves on its own. Other possible complications include prolonged swelling, visible scarring, and, rarely, the need to address displaced cartilage grafts.
Choosing a surgeon board-certified in plastic surgery or facial plastic surgery, with significant rhinoplasty-specific experience, is the single most effective way to reduce these risks. Rhinoplasty demands a combination of structural engineering and aesthetic judgment that improves dramatically with case volume.
How Popular Nose Jobs Actually Are
Rhinoplasty ranks among the top five surgical cosmetic procedures worldwide. Global numbers hit 1.1 million in 2023, a 21.6% increase over the previous year. It trails liposuction, breast augmentation, eyelid surgery, and abdominoplasty in total volume, but its growth rate outpaced several of those. In facial plastic surgery specifically, rhinoplasty and eyelid surgery are the two most frequently performed operations.