Can you perform successful rhinoplasty on a nose tip with no bone in it?

 The rhinoplasty procedure involves sculpting and shaping the nasal bones, upper lateral cartilages, and the lower lateral cartilages. The lower lateral cartilages are what  make up the tip of the nose. Thick skin does limit what can be accomplished during a rhinoplasty. Sometimes ear cartilage is also necessary for grafting purposes in the nose, but only once the cartilage from the nose has been depleted.  Digital computer imaging would be helpful at time of the consultation to understand what can be accomplished with your nose.  Please see our rhinoplasty photo  gallery below for examples of what can be accomplished with a closed rhinoplasty in our practice.

The tip of the nose can be crafted with cartilage from your septum which is normally present in abundance. If there is not enough one can go to the ear. There is no bone in the nasal tip. See a very experienced surgeon and you should be able to obtain good results from a rhinoplasty.

         Poor tip support can be improved as well as tip definition using septal or ear cartilage in most cases.  Find a plastic surgeon with ELITE credentials who performs hundreds of rhinoplasties 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