Justifiable Rhinoplasty!

May 6, 2009 12:36 AM

Singers: have you had rhinoplasty? Did it affect your singing voice or practice?

I've been delaying the inevitable for ten years, and I will be getting rhinoplasty in the next year or two to fix a deviated septum so I can actually use my nose for breathing instead of as a sundial.

I've worked through my issues about 1) plastic surgery 2) being put under for elective surgery that isn't strictly necessary, considering I can breathe through my mouth, I guess and 3) looking way different, which will be the end result since my nose needs to be seriously readjusted. Now I'm at my last sticking point: singing. I know one doesn't sing through one's nose, but it's a critical part of the instrument and I'd love first hand responses from anyone who sings who's had surgery on their nose. I've spent a lot of time on my voice and I'm finally sort of happy with my technique, and would hate to screw it all up. Thanks!

p.s. the title refers to this AskMefi thread that I found when I was searching this question. I kind of love it.

posted by annathea to Health & Fitness (1 answer total)

I studied Vocal Performance and Musical Theatre and worked a short time in New York many, many years ago. I had / have a severely deviated septum, but I'd stopped singing before getting it corrected due to nodes on the vocal cords that impacted my voice to the point of my voice going raspy. Even 20+ years later, it's still a low raspy sound. But, I did eventually have the corrective surgery, there was no external rhinoplasty, just the septum broken and reset internally.

It helped for a while, but I still have chronic sinusitis. I now use Nasonex, a corticosteriod and can breath clearly most of the time. If I were still singing, I think this would have helped, if only from having reduced the number of sinus infections I experienced.
posted by michswiss at 3:58 AM on May 6, 2009