Refining the Nasal Tip 

A bulbous or drooping nasal tip can be the product of genetics or aging. African-Americans and Asians are generally more likely to have flatter and wider tips, while Mediterraneans, Middle-Easterners and Indians are more likely to have pointed, drooping tips.  The size, shape and strength of the cartilages forming the nasal tip may be the culprits  for the drooping tip, and surgical correction may be quite straightforward.  Many times, the natural cartilage may be simply shaped and supported by sutures.  Occasionally, there is a need for grafts or implants. 

Aside from ethnicity, the effects of aging on the nasal tip are not to be overlooked.  We tend to think that aging only changes our skin, with our more structural features staying as fixed in appearance as stars in the night sky. But it isn’t so! The nose, for example, continues to change with age. The skin becomes thicker and the tip of the nose begins to droop in response to the long-term affects of gravity and the age: the loss of bone volume and cartilage.

Sometimes, a drooping tip can interfere with your ability to breathe freely. To test if this is the case for you, push the tip of your nose up with your finger and see if it’s easier to breathe. If it is, nasal tip refinement surgery might benefit you both cosmetically and functionally.

Fortunately, all that is needed is a little surgical refinement of the nasal tip and possibly some cartilage grafting. This surgery is like “rhinoplasty light.” No bones are broken and the recovery is fast and nearly painless.

Tip refinement surgery can be combined with other procedures such as a facelift, neck lift, or blepharoplasty (eyelid lift).

Read about Dr. Yagoda's Integrative Post Operative Care Program