Summer Sports Injuries Increase the Need for Dallas Plastic Surgery

DALLAS, TX, June 17, 2011 (Press-News.org) In recent weeks, the office of Dr. Steve Byrd (www.drstevebyrd.com) has seen an increase in calls from men and women who have been injured participating in spring or summer sports. The Dallas plastic surgery office has received numerous calls from patients who have been hit in the face by a ball, bat, or racket and are dealing with a potentially broken nose. Dallas rhinoplasty patients often make the mistake of waiting for several days before seeking treatment for their injury. Dr. Byrd notes that it is critical for patients to call as soon as possible after the injury so that a proper evaluation can take place and surgery plans can be made immediately.

"One of the advantages of living in Dallas is the weather. We still complain about the heat in the summer, and the cold and ice in the winter, but for the most part we are blessed with relatively mild winters," remarks Dr. Byrd. Those meteorological factors allow the residents living in the Metroplex area to spend more time participating in outdoor sports. Baseball, softball, playground basketball, volleyball, tennis, board and inline skating are but a few of the popular sports enjoyed in Dallas."Sports injuries are a common reason for rhinoplasty year-round, but I have seen a trend of sports-related nose injuries increasing in the spring and summer months," states Dr. Byrd.

Most of the rhinoplasty cases in Dallas are completed months or even years after the original injury. In some professional athletes in particular, who may have had their noses broken several times over the span of their careers, choose to wait until they retire before having their rhinoplasty surgery. "What they may fail to realize," Dr. Byrd says, "is that although waiting for surgery may make sense from a cosmetic viewpoint, they could be hampering their athletic performance by not addressing potential internal nasal damage, which may be restricting their breathing and the body's ability to oxygenate the blood."

Most rhinoplasty in Dallas is not performed on professional athletes. Dr. Byrd's Dallas Plastic Surgery Institute office is filled with patients who were injured simply due to recreational activities. "The biggest issues affecting these patients," Dr. Byrd says, "are to not only to repair the damage done - which sometimes requires harvesting septal (nose), conchal (ear), or rib cartilage to rebuild the nose - but to also achieve an aesthetically appealing appearance."

In order to help clarify expectations for surgery and avoid potential misunderstandings, Dr. Byrd provides computer/photographically-generated images to show the patient the anticipated surgical results. The value of the imaging is twofold: they allow Dr. Byrd to outline his surgical plan based on information garnered during the consultation, and the patient is able to form realistic expectations about their results.

Many of Dr. Byrd's Dallas rhinoplasty patients lead extremely full and busy lives, making it difficult to not only find time for the surgery, but also to find time for the initial three week recovery period. Keeping heart rate and blood pressure down for those first three weeks is difficult for amateur athletes, armchair quarterbacks, and professional athletes alike. It's also important to allow a full year before you'll see the final result of the surgery, and that's also difficult for some patients. It does take a full year for all the swelling to subside and the rhinoplasty results to be considered permanent. That's not to say that the nose will be as swollen at ten months as it was at ten days, but there is a healing pattern that lasts for the full twelve months.

Dr. Steve Byrd (www.drstevebyrd.com) has been performing plastic surgery at his practice in Dallas, Texas for over 25 years. He is certified by both the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Dr. Byrd earned his Medical Degree with honors at the University of Texas Medical Branch. In addition to serving his patients from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Dr. Byrd has held a variety of teaching appointments at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center and is a member of a number of professional societies, including the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.