Hi Alex, Yes, with reduction rhinoplasty, a very large nose can be made significantly smaller. Most importantly choose your rhinoplasty surgeon very carefully. Good luck and be well. Dr. P
Making a large nose smaller is one of the most common things done during rhinoplasty. How much of a change can be made depends on several factors, including your skin thickness and age. Although we can make the underlying structure of your nose quite a bit smaller, the overlying skin must redrape, or shrink-wrap around this new structure. If the nose is over-reduced, you'd end up with an ill-defined nose (due to the excess skin) that may look worse than your original nose. We must balance the amount of nasal reduction with maintaining adequate support of the skin envelope. The assessment of how much smaller your nose can be made can be done during an examination. I use computer imaging to give my patients an idea of how much smaller the nose can safely be made. It's also important to assess the projection of the chin as an underprojected chin will exagerate the size of the nose.
