Narrowing and Refining the Wide nose*

This patient felt that his nose made him look angry and wanted a more natural looking nose. He was looking to raise the tip of his nose and narrow the base to be more balanced with his face. A Careful evaluation of the patient's goals is performed in the preop consultation. Individual needs can vary and a plan is drawn up for every individual. There can be some limitations to how much change can be made and this will be discussed. The most challenging aspect of rhinoplasty in ethnic rhinoplasty is the thickness of the skin is greater in general and the strength of the underlying cartilage tends to be less. This makes getting crisp definition sometimes a challenge. While nasal tips can be thinned by defatting the tip, skin cannot be thinned. Skin thickness can vary greatly between individuals. In this patient the skin was of average thickness which allowed for refinement of the tip. In addition his cartilage was fairly supportive allowing for modification of his angle and tip. While this was the case for this individual this is not always the case for others.