Narrowing a Thick-Skinned Nose?

Adrian,

Noses with thick skin can be challenging, however, they can be improved. The shape of the nasal tip cartilages must be changed with suture techniques and tip grafts are almost always used to "push" through the thick skin in order to obtain a tip definition. Many times the thick skin is thinned from the inside. By doing these, the tip is defined.

Thick skin is problematic when operating as it blunts the work being done on the nose. There is really not much that can be done about thick skin. Alarplasty is performed through an incision at the nostril sill along the floor of the nose. A small pie wedge of skin usually 2-4 mm is removed depending upon the patient’s needs, wants, and desires. Once removed dissolvable stitches are placed, which narrows the width of the nostril. The incision usually heals very inconspicuously.