What Happens After Fat Removal from the Nose Tip?

Fat removal to thin or make a nose more streamline is sometimes needed during rhinoplasty surgery but should always be done with great caution for fear of devascularizing the skin and causing skin necrosis or an unwanted contour deformity. The fat that is removed is essentially permanent.  Weight gain should not have any significant affect on the results. 

The fat in the tip of the nose is not the same kind of fat you have in the love handles or under the skin below the belly button. After being removed it should not grow back after weight gain. The main problem though is removing fat in the tip so the cartilage shape is more visible after surgery frequently results in nasal tip indents that are impossible to fix.

I hope you realize that this format of posting questions and receiving answers lacks the face to face direct communication required for you to make an informed decision regarding your surgery.

My response to your question/post does not represent formal medical advice or constitute a doctor patient relationship. You need to consult with i.e. personally see a board certified plastic surgeon in order to receive a formal evaluation and develop a doctor patient relationship.

Hello, this type of surgery is fairly simple.  However, to answer your question properly it depends on your skin type and the amount of fat removed. 

Defatting the nasal skin is sometimes performed to further refine the tip in patients with thick tissues. However, this can cause irregularities and even skin necrosis if over done.  I am not a big fan of this technique and reserve it for the rare patient.

When the fat is removed from the skin at the tip of the nose, there should be no perceptible regrowth with weight gain. There are, however, many problems associated with imprudent fat removal from this location including devascularization (impairment of the blood supply) of the skin resulting in skin loss or undesirable thinning; scarring, deformity and skeletonization whereby the contours of the underlying cartilages can be seen in an abnormal way.

Removing fat from the tip of the nose to improve tip refinement is a procedure which raises the risk, as the removal produces scar and stiffness for some. There is very little fat there, and you can tell yourself just by pinching the tip of your nose. We would prefer supporting the thicker skin with cartilage grafts.
Best of luck, peterejohnsonmd.com

The debulking of the tip of the nose in Rhinoplasty is usually done in thick skin and bulbous noses. It should be done only by an experience surgeon and done conservatively. The purpose is to increase tip definition and thin the tip of the nose. The debulking is permanent but if the patient gains significant weight the remaining fat cells in the nose many enlarge and reduce the effects of the debulking procedure!

Good luck

I have performed Rhinoplasty for over 20 years and there's no fat to speak of in the nasal tip.  You maybe confusing this with the sub-Q or subcutaneous layer of tissue often described but this is not fat.

To answer your question, fat removal from the tip is permanent. Having said that, fat removal will not make a significant difference in most patients because little is present. Pick an experienced surgeon because it is possible to compromise skin circulation and risk skin loss when this is done. Other techniques are used to improve tip definition in patients with thick skin.  

Hi,

When the tip fat is removed it will not come back. However, if it's not done right you can have excessive scarring which would look like re-accumulation of fat. Refer to my website for further explanation.

Best,

Dr.S.