Why Do Some African Americans Have Sharp Noses?

Hello africannose,

Thanks for your question.  I was trained in rhinoplasty at MEETH in NYC, a city with a large number of all ethnic groups.  Your question was pondered alot.  What I was taught is that African-American nose could be thought of in three basic varieties: 1) subSaharan-African, 2) European-African, and 3) Native American-African.  The subSaharan-African nose tends to be broader and flatter at the tip and bridge.  There is a similarity to East Asian noses.  It is more difficult to make a defined, sharp nose without aggressive cartilage grafting, defatting techniques, and use of artificial implants.  The European-African nose tends to look more like a nose of someone of European descent but just transplanted onto the face of someone who is African-American.  These noses tend to be smaller, often with more angular features, and a mild hump on the dorsum.  One thought is that it comes from the mixing of different ethnicities.  Improving this type of nose requires smaller adjustments to blend in the features while maintaining the angularity.  Finally, the Native American-African nose tends to be almost hooked appearing with a fairly pronounced bony hump.  Again the thought is that it comes from the mixing of different ethnicities.  Hump reduction and exact bony work are the focus in this type of nose.

I'm not really sure if any of the above is really the case, but it makes sense.  When I am improving an African American nose, I try to take in multiple factors to decide how to make the improvements happen.  It is important to know where you are starting from and what you are working with.  Realistic expectations are key in successful rhinoplasty.

Good luck,

Dr. Shah

If your father was born with a thin, sharp nose, then the sharpness is genetic and based on bony, cartilaginous, membranous and skin factors.  In general, most Africans and African Americans do not have thin skin though the thickness varies from one person to another.  As a Ethnic rhinoplasty surgeon, I see a great variation in the bony and cartilaginous infrastructure as well as membranous and skin thicknesses.  However, these structures can be altered to make them look thinner, narrower, more refined, and more contoured.  The sharpness achieved from these changes depends on the original attributes of the patient.  In short, it can be done for any person but the amount of result a patient gets depends on what they started with. 

Noses come in all different sizes and shapes. While there are some general charactieristics of different ethnic groups, inter marriage and diversity has resulted in a big melting pot of appearance. There is no reason to try to pigeon hole different ethnic groups into categories. I prefer to look at each patient as an individual with their own specific concerns about their anatomy. It is important as a surgeon to be experienced in all the different techniques in order to understand what steps are need to effect specific changes. Likewise it is important to understand the limitations a patient may have which could affect potential results.  

The characteristics of an African American nose will vary from individual to individual. There are exceptions to the rule, as we may also encounter caucasian patients with thick nasal skin. When rhinoplasty surgeons make that statement, it is to bring to attention that a patient who genetically has thicker skin may not be able to achieve the level of definition they desire. It is unrealistic to give a patient with thick nasal skin a nose that is small and pointy. Every patient is different, and a thorough in-person assessment will help determine what is right for them. I hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck.

There is a range of distribution of nasal skin thickness in all ethnicities.  The quality of nasal skin and nasal tip shape will depend largely on the genetics of the parents.  Some African Americans have sharply defined nasal features (Vanessa Williams, Rick Fox) while some Caucasians have very thick nasal skin and amorphous nasal tips (Karl Malden, Gene Hackman).

Great questions.  What I think many doctors mean to say is that many African Americans TEND to have thick skin and flatter noses, but there are so many different types of people, skin tones, nose shapes and sizes it would be crazy to say that everyone with brown skin has the same nose, right?The shape of the nose depends on the cartilages underneath as well as the thick skin.  Since most everyone has mixed ancestry, most people have a combination of genes that create different features.  A sharp defined nose is not unrealistic, but it may not look natural on a person who previously had a wide flat nose.  My goal as a plastic surgeon is to bring out someone's own natural beauty but not make them all look like the same doll.Best of luckDr Rodman

Hello. AA people can have sharp noses based upon your their underlying cartilage and skin thickness. When a surgeon is attempting to remodel an AA nose  that is bulbous, he/she is usually dealing with a nasal tip that lacks support due to intrinsically weak cartilage. A surgeon may believe that a refined appearance in an AA patient is "unnatural" if he/she has not been exposed to a variety of people of color who poss a mulltitude of AA aesthetics. Best, 

I think that the ability to get a very well defined tip has to do with underlying structures and overlying soft tissue envelop, and this will be patient dependent.

It is true that the majority of African-Americans have thick nasal skin. However, there are certainly exceptions to the rule. I have performed rhinoplasty on a number of African-American patients, and there is a wide variability when it comes to skin thickness. Skin thickness does indeed lead to limit the amount of definition that be achieved with a rhinoplasty. But even if a defined, sharp nose cannot be achieved, a visible improvement in definition is still possible.

There are some nasal shapes that are characteristic of ethnic groups.  There are also ethnic mixtures so finding a patient of pure African descent may not be as obvious as you may think.  So genetics plays a large role in nasal shape.