Rhinoplasty

Answer : It would be nice to see a photo.  Sounds like you may need a hump reduction and some tip refinement, but I really cannot say what you need without seeing your nose. I would be happy to look at a photo if you send it to info@drbentkover.com. 

Answer : You need to stop growing before you can have surgery.  Otherwise, changes made in your nose surgery could distort the nose as you grow.  A simple x-ray of your hands will show if you have stopped growing or not.  Happy to see you in our suburban Boston office (Stoneham) or Worcester.

Answer : While artificial implants for the nose are widely used in the orient, they are less popular here because of the risk of infection.  They can be made out of silicone plastic, polyethylene, or PFFE (formerly marketed as Gore Tex).   In the US surgeons usually prefer to us the patient’s own tissue, usually cartilage from the nasal septum or an ear.  The use of your own tissues is safer and more customizable. 

Here is a link to look at: http://www.drbentkover.com/photogallery/rhinoplasty/patient-6

Answer :
It will be harder to get definition to the tip, and swelling will probably last longer.  You might not get the type of shaping of your nose that you envision.  You will need structural cartilage grafts, probably from your nasal septum, to get any sort of definition to your nose.  Here are three patients from my website with thick nasal skin.  All had significant cartilage grafts to achieve definition of the nasal tip:

http://www.drbentkover.com/photogallery/rhinoplasty/patient-9
http://www.drbentkover.com/photogallery/rhinoplasty/patient-10
http://www.drbentkover.com/photogallery/rhinoplasty/patient-11

Answer :
Yes, usually using cartilage from your nasal septum.
Take a look at this patient:

http://www.drbentkover.com/photogallery/rhinoplasty/patient-7

Answer :
Actually it is 12-18 months.  I have seen post op noses at 1 year that still had some swelling and looked much better at 18 months.  In a rhinoplasty, open or endonasal (co-called closed), the skin is elevated enough off the underlying cartilage and bone to interrupt the flow of fluid through the skin in what is called the lymphatic system.  This causes fluid to accumulate in the skin.  As the nose heals, the lymphatic vessels re-establish themselves, and the fluid dissipates. Here are some photos of our rhinoplasty procedures:

http://www.drbentkover.com/procedures/rhinoplasty_photos-worcester-boston.shtml

Answer:
These are small rectangular pieces of cartilage, usually from your nasal septum, placed on either of the septum at or near the top (dorsum) to help straighten the septum, decrease collapse of the sides of your nose with you breathe (called nasal valve collapse) or add some width to the central part of your nose called the mid vault.

Answer:
A crooked nose often has a crooked nasal septum.  The septum must be straightened to straighten the nose.  Also, sometimes the periosteum, the fibrous coating over the bone, is short on one side and will tend to pull the bones back to where they were as the nose heals.  Straightening the crooked nose is always a challenge but is generally successful.  While not all post op noses are perfectly straight, they are generally much straighter.  Here are a couple of examples of crooked noses I fixed.  Women’s sports are a constant factor with these noses, especially cheer leading.
http://www.drbentkover.com/photogallery/rhinoplasty/patient-21
http://www.drbentkover.com/photogallery/rhinoplasty/patient-30

Answer:
Usually this type of nose has a large hump, overprojecting tip and wide tip cartilages.  The rhinoplasty would move the tip closer to the face (retrodisplacement) reduce the hump and make the cartilages appear smaller or more defined.

Answer:
Alloderm is best used to wrap cartilage grafts.  By itself, it generally mostly goes away over time.