In 2020, greater than 1.7 million African-Americans reportedly received cosmetic surgery procedures. That’s also the 12 months that nose reshaping reigned supreme as the highest cosmetic surgical treatment across all race groups, ahead of facelifts, liposuction, and breast augmentation.

For many years, rhinoplasty (popularly often called a nose job) remained a taboo topic within the Black American community, an anathema used to ridicule and shame celebrities whose latest noses seemed glaringly unnatural or “chopped,” a scarlet offense against Black pride and power. Yet, advancements each in cosmetic surgery and popular culture have progressively transformed this norm.

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The rise in social video platforms like YouTube and TikTok fostered an area for users to vlog every, single moment of their rhinoplasty journeys, from the initial doctor consultation to the forged removal and healing process. Many medical schools, residency programs, and other skilled educational outlets have also since incorporated ethnic rhinoplasty—nose jobs for people of color that preserve their heritage—into their teachings. Increasingly more doctors of all racial backgrounds offer this selection to realize the most effective final result for Black patients’ while maintaining the unique characteristics of their race.

“Historically in my field, ethnic rhinoplasty procedures were conceptually considered make a Black nose more Caucasian,” said Dr. Deepak Dugar, founding father of Beverly Hills Rhinoplasty Center in California and writer of “Be-YOU-tiful: Flip the Script and Have a good time Your True Beauty.”

Though he’s been performing plastic surgeries for over a decade, Dr. Dugar made the unusual decision seven years ago to dedicate his entire surgical practice exclusively to “closed” scarless rhinoplasty procedures. (A “closed” procedure involves incisions contained in the nostril, versus “open” rhinoplasty, which requires an incision at the bottom of the nose and may sometimes create scarring.) “The brand new concept of ethnic rhinoplasty doesn’t cater to the ideals of westernized Caucasian beauty, but as an alternative celebrates the natural heritage of a phenomenal Black female, male, or person,” said Dr. Dugar.

While nose jobs have grow to be noticeably less taboo within the Black community, what hasn’t seen much progress is the wealth of rhinoplasty information because the procedure uniquely and specifically relates Black patients. A fast Google search of “rhinoplasty for Black people” will bring up a number of surgeon web sites and before and after photos, but lower than a handful of articles. So we spoke with Dr. Dugar to learn more about this nuanced procedure and supply a non-judgmental, informed foundation.

ESSENCE: In relation to rhinoplasty procedures, how are Black noses* unique?

(Note: By “Black nose,” we’re referring to the nose of an individual of African descent.)

Dr. Dugar: Throughout our education as surgeons, the one differences that were talked about with Black noses were that they typically have thicker skin and sometimes have weaker cartilage. So surgeons were taught techniques to debulk and de-thicken the skin and strengthen the cartilage to create a more Caucasian appearance, because, historically, most surgeons designed the perfect anatomical concept of a nose based on a Caucasian nose, when it comes to the frontal angle and the tip.

Those are stuff you do have to contemplate during surgery, but I don’t think it necessarily constitutes recreating every nose right into a standardized paradigm created by Western Caucasian culture. There was never a discussion of how can we have fun and just enhance the great thing about a Black nose as an alternative of attempting to make it right into a white nose. Recently, there’s been a much larger push within the Black community to have a more natural result that appears and feels even postoperatively like an African American or a Black nose, especially given the history of bad nose jobs amongst many Black celebrities over the past 30 years.

“Of the a whole lot of Black clients I’ve worked with, their biggest concern was not wanting to look [overdone].”

Is there a typical concern or query that your Black patients have ahead of the surgery?

Of the a whole lot of Black clients I’ve worked with, their biggest concern was not wanting to look [overdone]. They only need a very natural look. I’ve found that in Black and Indian communities, cosmetic surgery could be very stigmatized. So the thought process is likely to be that if anyone finds out you’ve gotten your nose done, then they may mechanically assume all the things about you is fake. You will need to have gotten your breast done, your butt, all the things.

So in those communities, there’s this sense of shame and secrecy in getting a nose job, and that trickles into what they need and don’t want done to their nose. They don’t want an excessively done nose job because then that can obviously “out” them. Whereas within the Caucasian community, it’s historically been one in every of those things that’s just accepted, that you just get a nose job in highschool or in college, like a rite of passage.

There’s a chapter in your book about social media, which is sensible. Yr after 12 months, we learn more concerning the potential impact of those technologies and social media culture on one’s self-perception, and the way that bleeds into the world of cosmetic procedures. So what are your thoughts on patients coming to you and saying, “I would like my nose to appear like this person’s”? Does that occur often and the way do you sometimes respond?

It happens on a regular basis. I like when patients show photos of their inspo and desires. But nowadays increasingly persons are coming in with photos of influencers as an alternative of classical celebrities. I feel we feel more much like an influencer than we do a star due to their relatability.

What I do with that information is predicated on their anatomy and realism. So in the event that they’re showing me a ridiculously different looking person, then it also gives me insight that that is an unrealistic patient with unrealistic goals. So I like seeing photos and it gives me inspiration on whether or not they’re being realistic or not. But at the identical time, I let every patient know, you may’t have XYZ nose or XYZ face. It’s not like Humpty Dumpty where you may just rebuild the face nonetheless you wish. It’s about making your nose match your anatomy and your natural characteristics.

“Before you even have your initial consultation, do your research on the differing types of rhinoplasty and there are various kinds of rhinoplasty surgeons.”

Are you able to breakdown the way you conceptualize the most effective fit for a patient?

The face itself is a sum of its parts or its features, an entire. A number of people, doctors included, are so hyper focused on making an ideal nose that doesn’t exist. You can have all of the definitions of a “perfect” nose anatomically, meaning it has the precise angles, dimensions, smoothness, and tightness [as determined by conventional standards.] But in the event you zoom out, it would look fake.

Nobody looks at your individual features. They give the impression of being at your face as an entire. You don’t take a look at a flower and only see one petal. All of us behold the great thing about the flower in its entirety. It’s the identical thing with faces. So hyper-focusing on making a “perfect” nose is a really dangerous pursuit with no real additional benefit at the top of it.

What’s your top advice for Black people who find themselves considering a cosmetic rhinoplasty procedure?

Before you even have your initial consultation, do your research on the differing types of rhinoplasty and there are various kinds of rhinoplasty surgeons. A number of people think a nose job is a nose job, as if there’s just one type and it’s a singular procedure, and that’s just not true. There are open and there are closed rhinoplasties. There are aggressive and there are conservative and all different mixtures of those types as well.

A number of people go to a neighborhood surgeon, get the surgeon’s opinion, and—since the surgeon has a medical degree—takes all the things the surgeon is sayin at face value, without questioning whether the surgeon is the most effective fit for them. The issue is that the surgeon may not have a large enough understanding of all of the rhinoplasty options available. Let’s say in the event you’re in Louisville, Kentucky and also you’re seeing a plastic surgeon who only does noses a certain way and there’s not a big rhinoplasty community around. You is likely to be tricked into assuming that surgeon’s options are the one alternative you have got and that’s just not true.