I had an accident when I was eleven, where I flew off my bike and fell hard on my nose. Massive swelling and bruising followed, which took a few weeks to settle down. No thanks to the swelling, it was only after it subsided that I realised the impact actually broke my nose bridge, leaving me with a dented and crooked nose. At that time, a nose specialist did a procedure to push it back in place but it still left me with a crooked and dented bridge.
I was fortunate that my breathing was not affected – nose fractures can sometimes leave you with nasal blockage if the roof of the nose is collapsed or if there is a deviated septum. The crooked deformity appeared mild then and did not really bother me, nor my parents, so we just left it. But in my twenties, I noticed that my nose became more crooked. On top of that, the tip of my nose also appeared flat and pinned down. It seemed like the damage from the accident has hampered the growth of my nose tip, whilst the rest of the nose continues to grow. Many people started to ask about it and needless to say I became more self-conscious of it. I found out then that our noses develop during our teenage years and any damage to it beforehand may distort the growth and worsen the deformity.
Read More: Beauty Evolution: How Better New Age Treatments Are Replacing the Old
The Options To Correct Crooked Noses
I consulted plastic surgeon, Dr Chia Hui Ling, who brought me through 2 main ways to correct a crooked nose, either a rhinoplasty to surgically by straightening the structure of the nose, or by camouflaging the deformity with dermal fillers. I was about to start a new job then and wasn’t too keen on surgical nose job, which I know would correct the root of the problem but I could not afford the downtime at that point in my life.
Read More: The Best Skincare Ingredients for Your Skin
Dermal Fillers
Dr Chia suggested to go for the non-surgical option of using dermal fillers to conceal the crookedness, since I am not ready for surgery and breathing is not an issue. So I went for the so-called “liquid nose job“or “non-surgical rhinoplasty”. If I had nasal blockage, I would have required surgery to correct that.
Filler injection took less than half an hour with minimal discomfort – how I wished I knew of this earlier. The result was natural and there was minimal swelling. The fillers were injected into sunken areas on my nose to make it look straighter. In addition, Dr Chia placed more fillers to raise my nose bridge and also into the tip to make it look more raised and pointy. I loved how it was so simple and yet concealed the deviation.

Read More: Let the Skin-Cleaning Begin with These 4 Joy-Sparking Elements.
Nasal Thread Lifts
Another non-surgical option, which is growing in popularity lately is nasal thread lift. It has a few advantages over fillers. When the threads are inserted to raise the nose bridge, it gives more definition and less likely to widen over time. It also has a greater ability to raise the nasal tip for a more refined tip. As the threads dissolve over time, they stimulate new collagen formation which helps to maintain the new improved nose structure. More information on nasal thread lift procedure can be found here: Infinity Nose Threadlift. Dr Chia mentioned that she will perform a thread lift in the next session, but as I also have sunken areas due to the deviation, I would still need fillers for those areas.

Read More:5 Things You Need to Know Before Liposuction
How long do the results last and what are the side effects?
Depending on the types of fillers used, hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers usually require a repeat procedure within 1 year. Longer lasting fillers, such as Ellanse, may last for 2 years. Still, HA has the advantage of being reversible with enzyme injection Hylase, but this is not available for other fillers. Side effects of fillers include mild swelling and bruising. Always go to an experienced doctor with proven results. Although the risks may occur with any doctor, in inexperienced hands, there may be a higher risk of lumpiness, skin necrosis and even reports of blindness.
Read More: The DNA Facelift