Can a 17 year old have rhinoplasty surgery?
That depends on the 17 year old. Most 17-year-old young women have essentially reached their adult facial growth stage and it is safe to operate on those young women at the age of 17 and some as young as age 15. If the 17 year old is a young gentleman, it would depend on whether the patient has stopped growing or not. Many young men are continuing to grow at age 17 and I would therefore recommend that they postpone their rhinoplasty until they complete their full growth so that any facial changes would not affect the overall outcome of their rhinoplasty. In essence, we want to wait until the facial growth has completed, so that we know exactly what anatomic abnormalities we are dealing with before we make a plan and then perform a rhinoplasty. That way, the results will be able to last a lifetime and we will get the result that we expect.
