Possible to Thin out the Fatty Tissue on the Nose?

If you have thick, oily skin on the tip of your nose, this may be carefully thinned during rhinoplasty Surgery. Thick nasal skin has advantages and disadvantages. Your thick skin is less likely to show irregularities after Rhinoplasty Surgery. It may also limit the amount of narrowing that you and your surgeon desire.

I hope this is helpful for you.

        It’s not unusual for plastic surgeons to encounter patients with thick nasal skin.  When this situation arises, the detailed sculpting of the underlying cartilage and bone that occurs with rhinoplasty may be hidden by a thick skin envelope.
            Under these circumstances, it may be reasonable to thin fat from the under surface of the skin to create more definition of the underlying nasal structures.  This maneuver can improve nasal aesthetics, but isn’t without some risk.  Defatting and thinning of the nasal skin can result in skin necrosis, scarring, asymmetry and nasal contour irregularities.  For this reason, it’s appropriate to approach this maneuver with caution.

            If you’re considering defatting of your nasal tip, consultation with a board certified plastic surgeon is appropriate.  This surgeon should be able to formulate a treatment plan that addresses your concerns. 

As you mentioned, patients differ significantly in the thickness of the skin. Some patients have very thin skin and some patients have very thick skin. The skin itself cannot be thinned out or else it may compromise blood flow and risk a wound on your nose. However during an open rhinoplasty, when the tip is elevated, there is usually a fat layer right underneath the skin of the tip of the nose. The loose fatty tissue under the skin of the tip of the nose can be removed or debulked to make the tip of the nose more visible and refined. This is limited by your anatomy and you will only find out once you are in the operating room etc.
-Dr. David Mattos, New York Plastic Surgical Group

 

It is possible to slightly thin down some of the thick, oily, sebaceous dermis from the underside of the skin during a rhinoplasty.  This is only minimally helpful in certain select areas across the supratip of the nose.  The surgeon also has to be careful so as to not thin the skin too much or create dimples.

The fatty tissue under the nasal skin can be thinned out, but it does increase risk of skin dying, and potentially a bigger problem down the line.

If you have thick, oily skin, you should accept the fact your result (specifically the nasal tip) will never be as refined as someone who has thin skin, regardless of the thinning.

It depends on exactly what you need and without examining you it is a little difficult to determine. If your problem is mainly the texture of the skin on your nose and it is uneven with large pores. You can improve the appearance of your nose by fractionated or regular laser resurfacing.

A potential non-invasive alternative would be to inject a small amount of steroid into the nasal tip to reduce the thickness of the nasal skin. This would need to be done very conservatively.

The last resort in my opinion would be to defat the skin. Trimming the subdermal layer of fat from the skin risks injury to the skin and in the worst case could lead to skin damage. Most patients actually need increased definition through cartilage grafting so that the thickness of the skin is not as noticeable.

A photo would have helped! But the tip of the nose has 3 components for thickness. The skin, fibro fatty tissue, the lower lateral alar cartilages, and a combination of all 3. Over the net there is no way to discuss your issues. Go see 3 boared PS in your area.

From MIAMI Dr. B

Yes, almost in every nasal surgery, I thin out the tip area by removing the underlying cartilage. This also reduces the height of the tip as well as the width usually. Unfortunately, when the skin is excessively thick, you can remove almost all the cartilage and it may not thin or narrow the tip.

Although it is surgically possible to thin the skin of thick sebaceous skin of the nasal tip during a rhinoplasty, and sometime done  in order to refine the tip aesthetics, it is performed with an increased risk complications, including, necrosis, scarring and tip irregularities.

The advantages of enhanced tip aesthetics must be balanced against the increased risks involved and any treatment program should only be decided upon after a thorough discussion of the procedure with a certified, experienced and skilled rhinoplasty physician
 

Subtle improvement can sometimes be achieved by carefully removing some of the fatty tissue from the deep layer of skin. Discuss this with your surgeon before the operation to establish reasonable expectations. Another controversial treatment is the use of Accutane to improve skin quality.