Rhinoplasty

Surgery to reshape the nose is a very common plastic surgery procedure and it can both increase and decrease the size of the nose. The shape of the tip, the bridge and also the nostrils can be changed as can the angle between the nose and the upper lip. Sometimes breathing difficulties can be corrected at the same time.

The nose is the central feature of the face and many people are self-conscious of shape, which they may regard as too big, too small.  The characteristics of the nose are inherited from parents and develop during adolescent years. It is, therefore, unwise to operate before this age.

What can be done?

An operation called Reduction Rhinoplasty reduces the size of the framework of the nose over which the skin is draped. The skin itself is not touched. The frame of the nose which is made up of bone in its upper half and gristle (cartilage) in its lower half is approached from underneath the skin through cuts which are made inside the nostrils. Think of the frame of the nose as being like the roof of a house. In order to straighten the nose and bring its bridge closer to the face, its 'ridge' is cut away. Then, to restore a new 'ridge' or bridge-line, the two sides of the nose are brought together by cutting the bones of the nose where they join onto the cheek bones. The elasticity of the overlying skin allows it to shrink down on the smaller frame.

This operation effectively narrows the width of the nose. If doing so makes the nostrils seem too wide, it may be necessary to narrow them as well by cutting out a small piece of skin in the floor of the nostril which would leave a fine scar on each side. It is also possible to shorten the nose and to slim down a bulky tip by reducing the amount of cartilage which shapes the end of the nose.

If you have difficulty breathing through your nose, it may be possible to improve this at the same time by adjusting the lie of the plate of the bone which separates one half of your nose from the other. This is referred to as Septoplasty.

Sometimes the size of the nose as a feature of the face is influenced by the proportions of other features, such as the chin and the cheek bones, and to 'normalise' the appearance of the face it may be advisable to alter these features as well, either at the same time as the rhinoplasty or during a separate operation.