Rhinoplasty: Choosing the Right Nose for You

Patients don't want to have a new nose that looks obviously ethnically inappropriate. It is important that your cosmetic nasal surgeon to listen carefully to your desires. A patient must be comfortable and confident that there will be not radical changes in the nose. No one wants a nose that it looks almost "stuck on" and fake because of the surgeon's proclivity to deliver the same "boilerplate" nose for all comers.

Asian noses typically exhibit the following features:

    * Low flat bridge.
    * Wide nasal bones manifesting as wide bridge and middle third of nose.
    * Round, sometimes flat tip.
    * Thick skin.
    * Wide nostrils with thick outer walls.
    * Softer, weaker cartilage.


Hispanic noses vary with ancestry. Those whose genetic makeup have a predominance of Spanish (from Spain) genes tend to have lighter, thinner skin, stronger cartilage and other characteristics more suggestive of Caucasian noses.

Those Hispanics whose ancestry is skewed toward Central or South American Indians exhibit the following:

    * High bridge with a prominent bump.
    * Thick skin.
    * Wide, oblong nostrils with thick outer walls.
    * A wide plunging flat tip.
    * Short upper lip.
    * Softer, weaker cartilage.


African-American noses, anatomically, often have some features in common with Asian or Hispanic noses. There is a greater variety and combination of these elements. Here are the features that contrast most with Caucasian noses:

    * Low flat bridge.
    * Wide nostrils with thick walls.
    * Disproportional width compared to length.


For Asian, Hispanic and African-American noses, more often there will be a need for the surgeon to raise the bridge and shore up the tip. Narrowing the nostrils, when needed, requires external incisions which must be artfully performed so that the incisions - tucked within the crease between the wing (outer wall and the wall of the nostril) and the cheek and upper lip is rendered nearly invisible.

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