The trauma from the basketball incident may have caused a missed fracture that healed, but with the nose bone in a deviated or depressed position. The external deviation though slight, may be associated with an internal nose bone deviation that is more severe. Thus, breathing from the right nose can get difficult if the air passage is blocked.
This is a very common condition that we see often, and surgery to the nose bone to improve the breathing space for the patient is covered by insurance. Many mild external nasal deviations are corrected when the internal deviation is corrected - we do not need any external incisions on the nose.
Occasionally, we need to also do an external approach if the external deviation is severe - even in those cases, the external incision is only about 3 mm length and hidden on the under surface of the nose and thus not visible.
Kind regards,
Lynne Lim
