Lateral Crura Overlay? Can My Revision Be Reversed?

Question

I had a revision rhino to correct an inverted v. Before surgery. I was specific in telling my doctor that i'd like to maintain the other features of my long slender nose. However, the doctor deprojected my nose using the lateral crura overlay technique. I hate how my nose looks short and wide. When i confronted him about it, he said that i was not a tall woman and that my nose was to long for my face. Can this technique be reversed?

Kenneth Hughes, MD · Answer

Removing lateral crural strut grafts can be performed. I would have to evaluate why they were placed in the revision. The correction of the inverted v is one thing and the placement of lateral crural grafts is another. 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

Mohsen Tavoussi, MD, DO · Answer

Most undesired effects of rhinoplasty can be reversed, but the best person is your original surgeon who knows exactly what was done if that is possible.

Michel Siegel, MD · Answer

Yes it can. I have done it multiple times before. Careful separation of the tissues under the cartilage must be carried out, and sometimes a supporting sheath of cartilage may have to be used to realign and re-support the desired length of the cartilage.

Francis R. Palmer, III, MD (retired) · Answer

The lateral crural overly, or placing cartilage over the nasal tip does indeed add volume = a wider nasal tip. You should ask your Rhinoplasty Surgeon what was placed, where and the best methods possible to thin the nasal tip moving forward.

Lateral Crura Overlay? Can My Revision Be Reversed?

Answers (4)