Thick Nose Skin or Excess Cartilage?

Assuming you have not had nasal surgery in the past, your nose possibly has a combination of both.
Feel your ear and you can feel the cartilage, now feel the cheek. You can tell the difference between both now.
It will be easy for a rhinoplasty surgeon to tell by examining if you have a combination of both thick skin and excess cartilage or more cartilage than skin. In either case your nose can be improved by surgery.
Regards

Optimal results for rhinoplasty surgery are dependent upon an accurate assessment of the patients anatomic deformity.  This requires a physical examination by a surgeon with experience in this area.  In most cases a relatively accurate assessment of the nasal anatomy can be made prior to surgery when patients have prominent nasal structures.
            Unfortunately, even when an experienced surgeon examines a patient, it can be difficult to distinguish thickened nasal skin from excess cartilage.  Under these circumstances, appropriate adjustments can be made in the operating room to optimize the surgical result.  When these steps are taken clinical results are excellent and levels of patient satisfaction are high.   

During your consultation, we can usually tell by examining you what your actually anatomy is-- this is relatively straightforward. Different skin types also tend to have different levels of thickness and quality, but whether or not you have significant cartilages can also be determined at the time of your exam.

In general, individuals of darker skin types usually have thick skin and wide cartilages in the tip of the nose. This is only a generalization.
Other individuals may have a variety of thicknesses of skin and cartilage. The best way to determine this is to undergo an examination by a plastic surgeon. Sometimes pinching the skin can reveal just how thick it is. Determining the quality, size and shape of the cartilages takes much more experience and practice.

The relative thickness of the skin of your nose, along with the underlying cartilage can be examined, and properly identified by an experienced, board-certified rhinoplasty specialist.
If you'd like to change the appearance of your nose, make sure to see many photos demonstrating favorable results before moving forward.
I hope this helps, and best regards.

 He can tell by examining your nose if you have thick skin and or cartilage responsible to a large tip. Look at good before/after photos of his work since that is the type of nose he does.