Fix a Retracted Columella?

Question

I didn't know why but I felt like my nose was different. Not even my relatives got a nose like mine. I never had a surgery before so shape of my nose is natural. After a personal close inspection, I found that the problem was a retracted columella, I mean columella is not visible, it is inside the nose. The lack of visible columella makes nostrils to look rare, kinda upturned nose in front view. How complex is to fix this by surgery? exist a non surgical method? How common is a case like mine?

Jonathan Kulbersh, MD · Answer

Thank you for your question and photos. It appears you would be a good candidate for surgical rhinoplasty - nonsurgical treatments are unlikely to produce a satisfactory result. This procedure will probably involve a graft to bring the columella down. The surgery is one of the more complex rhinoplasty procedures, requiring a great deal of experience of expertise to perform correctly. Make sure you work with an experienced, board-certified facial plastic surgeon who performs many rhinoplasties every year to ensure the best possible results.

Kenneth Hughes, MD · Answer

The columella projection can be improved with a cartilage graft.  Find a plastic surgeon with ELITE credentials  who performs hundreds of rhinoplasties and rhinoplasty revisions each year.  Then look at the  plastic surgeon's website before and after photo galleries to get a  sense of who can deliver the results.	Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

William Portuese, MD · Answer

A cartilaginous graft placed into the columella will give more columellar show and reduce the retracted  columella. It's important to have plenty of cartilage left in the septum for grafting purposes

Shervin Naderi, MD, FACS · Answer

Hi

	The correction of a retracted columella is more advanced and not a "bread and butter" or "typical" rhinoplasty.  It is fairly simple in the hands of an experienced rhinoplasty specialist.  Your septum needs to be evaluated to make sure it is intact.  Then you would need a caudal septal extension graft with or without columellar onlay batten grafts.  Minor improvements can be made non-surgically but this involves surgery most likely.  Good luck.

Fix a Retracted Columella?

Answers (4)

Answer: Retracted columella #rhinoplasty surgical vs #non-surgical

Answer: Retracted columella #rhinoplasty surgical vs #non-surgical

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Fix a Retracted Columella?

Answers (4)

Answer: Retracted columella #rhinoplasty surgical vs #non-surgical

Answer: Retracted columella #rhinoplasty surgical vs #non-surgical

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Recommended reading

Everything you need to know about Rhinoplasty

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.