How to Treat Alar Retraction?

You would be surprised how much improvement you could see with a Non-Surgical Rhinoplasty procedure. I have had wonderful success lowering nostril margins with Silikon-1000 for permanent results. Several treatments are typical for a desired result. You should consult a specialist experienced in this technique. Procedures are performed with topical anesthetic, and there is typically no downtime.
If any of my colleagues wish to learn more about my experience with Silikon-1000, I am giving an instructional course at the upcoming Fall Meeting of The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS). The course is titled "Off-Label Applications of Liquid Injectable Silicone (LIS)", and I will be presenting on 9/24/2010 at 4pm. Common conditions treated with LIS include: volume replacement, wrinkle reduction, lip enhancement, acne scarring, and correction of many nasal irregularities (“Non-Surgical Rhinoplasty”). I will also be describing the serial puncture, microdroplet technique that is essential for achieving desired results and minimizing complications.
I hope this is helpful for you.

Alar retraction is one of the potential consequences of rhinoplasty - most common with the older closed rhinoplasty techniques when the surgeon can't see exactly how much cartilage they are leaving behind.  It can be improved/corrected with cartilage grafting.

This is one of the trickier problems to fix in rhinoplasty. With alar retraction, there is a deficiency of soft tissue which cause the nostril margins to be too high. To create a small degree of lowering of the ala (1-2mm), small cartilage grafts can be inserted within the soft tissue of the ala. These alar rim grafts also provide benefit by strengthening the nostril margin.

For more than 2mm of reduction, some additional skin needs to be added to further push the alar margin down. Just a skin graft is too flimsy to accomplish this. So a graft in which skin and cartilage is incorporated together taken from the ear (a composite graft) is inserted into an incision on the inner aspect of the nostril margin. This allows for significant (up to 3-4 mm) lowering of the ala.