How Can My Pointy Nose Appearance Be Changed?

Q: Dr. Eppley,  I have concerns about my nose and I focus on it all the time. I think (know) my nose is too pointy at the tip and people confuse me as if I am Native American. I could see why. What can be done to make my nose less pointy?

A: In looking at your pictures, the pointiness  of your nose is the direct result of the alar cartilages which make up the tip. Your alar cartilages show rim retraction (an acute alar angle backwards) and a narrow dome area. Together this makes your nose tip come to a point. Since the overlying skin just follows the underlying cartilages, this gives you a sharp and pointy nose appearance. This could be improved through a tip rhinoplasty with cartilage grafting. In some cases of a pointy nose, the tip is both narrow and very long. This requires tip cartilage shortening. But your tip is not too long, it is just too narrow. Cartilage grafts would be harvested from your septum and used to augment the alar rims combined with a tip shield and dome spreading grafts. The objective is to change the shape of the dome and lower alar cartilages to make the tip more round and drop the rim of the nostrils down. This should help make a substantial change in the way the tip of your nose looks.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana