Can A Lip Lift Bring Up Scarred Nostril Sills?

Q: Dr. Eppley, After a revision rhinoplasty with a chief complaint of increased nostril show, I was told a prior lip lift probably altered the nasal sill and that my original rhinoplasty surgeon made a poor decision in not pursuing alarplasty with wedge excision, and I have poor scarring on a deformed nasal sill where an attempt to correct was performed. I am unhappy with my nasal base and my surgeon, who I trust a lot, recommended I find a surgeon who performs lip lifts to bring the sill up, as he was only comfortable with wedge excision. I am wondering if this is possible and what the scarring risks are. My surgeon did not want to lengthen my nose any more and I do not want to pursue a third revision. I really do not want much of my nostrils to show. Thank you for your time.

A: I believe what are asking is whether a combined subnasal lip lift (for scarring removal) and nostril narrowing (for more narrows = less nostril show) can be performed. The answer is yes with scarring that is probably less than what you have now if done well. But as it relates to the subnasal lip lift the real tradeoff is not the scarring but whether the increased central lip fullness that will result is acceptable.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana