Rhinoplasty (RIE-no-plas-tee), also referred to as nose surgery, is a surgery that changes the shape of the nose. The motivation for rhinoplasty may be to change the appearance of the nose, its function or both.When planning rhinoplasty, your surgeon considers your features, the skin on your nose and what you would like to change. The upper portion of the structure of the nose is bone, and the lower portion is cartilage. Rhinoplasty can modify bone, cartilage, skin or all three. Talk with your surgeon about whether rhinoplasty is appropriate for you and what it can achieve.