Rhinoplasty for a Slimmer Nose

Q:  I have a fat nose and would like it to look slimmer. It doesn’t seem to fit the rest of my face which is actually very thin. But I don’t want to have my nose broken as I like the rest of it. Are there different types of rhinoplasty surgeries?

A: Like all operations in plastic surgery, it is important to tailor it to the specifics of the problem. Most plastic surgery procedures do  not use a ‘cookie-cutter’ approach but modify certain details of the operation to a patient’s specific needs. Rhinoplasty surgery is the pinnacle of this philosophy as every nose surgery is uniquely different.

Despite the many variations of rhinoplasty, they can be divided into two main types, a mini- or tip rhinoplasty and a full rhinoplasty. The fundamental difference between the two is that a full rhinoplasty treats all three sections of the nose, often breaking the nose bones  (upper third) to narrow them. A tip rhinoplasty treats only the lower one-third which consists of a paired set of cartilages which meet in the middle to create the tip of the nose.

When one has a fat or wide nose, it is because the cartilages in the tip of the nose are big and protrusive and often don’t quite meet in the middle. Through a tip rhinoplasty, these cartilages can be reduced in size, reshaped and brought closer together. Using suture techniques, a remarkable change in the nose tip can be done making it thinner and more in proportion to the rest of the nose.    

Dr. Barry Eppley