This second edition lands at a good moment. Rhinoplasty practice has shifted noticeably over the last decade towards preservation techniques and away from purely resection-based approaches, and a text of this scale needed updating to stay relevant — which it does. Rather than simply refreshing old chapters, the editors have brought in a large number of new contributors and topics, so the book reads as a genuine reflection of where the field is now rather than a cosmetic update of 2011-era content.
The book is useful and informative, though its real strength is as a working reference rather than a book you sit down and read start to finish. Because so many different surgeons have contributed, you get several competing philosophies on the same problem – say, tip refinement or a crooked nose – set out side by side rather than one editor’s house view imposed throughout. For a trainee or surgeon still finding their own operative style, that variety is more useful than a single ‘correct’ algorithm, though it does mean the book occasionally reads unevenly in tone and depth from chapter to chapter, which is the trade-off of a large multi-author format like this.
This is not a book for medical students or a general audiology/ENT trainee doing a rotation – it assumes you already have a working knowledge of nasal anatomy and are actively, operating or are about to be. For that reader – rhinoplasty and facial plastic surgeons and senior trainees with a committed interest in nasal surgery – it hits its mark well.
The book is a reasonably priced, specialist text, and no single reader will use every chapter. But, for anyone building a rhinoplasty practice, the combination of updated illustrations, operative videos and breadth of techniques justifies the outlay as a long-term reference rather than a one-off read.
