My favorable teacher in rhinoplasty
( Gubisch of Stutgart), said to me that this is not make sense, what about you.
I am a psychologist, not a surgeon, but I am inclined to agree with your professor. It is true that people seeking aesthetic (as opposed to functional) rhinoplasty self-report higher levels of psychological distress (see Naraghi & Atari, 2015), but that doesn't mean they suffer from clinically significant psychopathology. Of course there will be a subset of patients with Body Dysmorphic Disorder, and reconstructive surgeons should be alert to this syndrome. But most will be choosing the surgery for cultural/aesthetic reasons. For example, when I was growing up there was a pretty strong cultural bias (which I did not share) against the classic "Semitic" nose, an artifact (I suspect) of anti-Semitic. So naturally enough, some young women sought to have their noses altered so as to be viewed as more beautiful and not discriminated against for their ethnicity. I think something similar occurs among many people of Iraqi background today. But that's a pathology of society, not of the individual.
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