Rhinoplasty after septoplasty turbinate reduction surgery - is a rib cartilage graft necessary?

Hello and thank you for your question. I do agree that an alternate source for cartilage is necessary once you've had a septoplasty and your septal cartilage can no longer be harvested. However, I would much rather utilize a donor/cadaver cartilage graft instead of making an incision along your chest to harvest rib cartilage with a subsequent risk of injury to your lung. I commonly utilize MTF (Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation) cartilage for all my revision rhinoplasties and/or primary rhinoplasties in patients who have undergone a prior septoplasty.

The next step for you is to find the right aesthetic plastic surgeon. In your rhinoplasty consultation, be sure your surgeon addresses all your aesthetic goals and concerns specifically, and discusses the surgery details including the position and size of the incisions used (with actual photographs and not just digital animations), the risks and benefits of the procedure, recovery time, and post-operative course. Also, be sure to see plenty of before-and-after pictures in women who have a similar nose appearance to yours, and preferably at different time frames (3 weeks out, 3 months out, etc) to more accurately predict your own surgical outcome.

After seeking out a board-certified plastic surgeon who specializes in aesthetic plastic surgery, I think the most important component of the consultation is to establish a good connection with your plastic surgeon. It’s the connection that allows you to clearly define your desired nose outcome goals, the first step of this whole process. If you don’t feel you have a good connection with your plastic surgeon after your consultation, he/she may not be the best surgeon for you.

For more information on rhinoplasty, please refer to my link below.

Good luck.

Mark K Markarian, MD, MSPH, FACS
Harvard-trained Board Certified Aesthetic Plastic Surgeon

If you need to restructure, add support and reconstruct the internal anatomy which serves as a foundation for the skin envelope then the surgeon would need building blocks. A good source is septum. Considering you do not have that alternate sources include ear and cadaveric cartilage. Everyone has their own style and recipe. The key is to structure a plan that meets your needs and goals!

Thank you for your question.

Septoplasty means different things to different surgeons and the most important element is if cartilage from the nasal septum has been removed. In general, although after septoplasty, it is unlikely that the septum is suitable for cartilage graft harvest.

In addition to the option of using your own costal cartilage, it is possible to donor cartridge. Ear cartilage has also been used in rhinoplasty but a good number of surgeons are not confident that it provides adequate support. (I am one of them).

In my opinion, the most important part of the decision is whether you feel comfortable with the surgeon to provide the outcome that you seek rather than to decide about your treatment based on the projected method to be used.